
Qass_l 



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Life of Lieutenant-General 

Nathan Bedford Forrest 

By 

John Allan M^yeth 

M.D., LL.D. 

With Illustrations by 

T. de Thulstrup, Rogers, Klcpper 
Redwood, Hitchcock, & Carleton 



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New York and London 
Harper £^ Brothers Publishers 



£"• 






Tr^ ^ii 



Copyright, 1897, by Harper & Brothers. 

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

C M 






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To 
EMMA SANSOM 

y^ WOMAN worthy of being remember ed 
by her countrymen as long as courage 
is deemed a virtue, who rode with General 
Forrest in the engagement at Black Creek 
May 2, 1863, and by guiding his men to a7i 
unguarded ford enabled him to capture 
Colo7iel A. D. Streight and his entire com- 
mand, this volume is dedicated as a token 
of admiration and respect 



PREFACE 



For the last two years of the Civil War I was a private soldier 
in a regiment of Alabama cavalry which had formerly served 
under Forrest. Four companies of this regiment had formed a 
portion of the famous battalion which had distinguished itself in 
the engagement at Fort Donelson, and, refusing to surrender, had 
marched out with him through the gap in General Grant's lines. 
Although I was at no time directly under General Forrest, I was 
impressed by the enthusiastic devotion to him of these veterans, 
who had followed his banner for the first year of the war, and who 
seemed never to tire in speaking of his kind treatment of them, 
his sympathetic nature as a man, his great personal daring, and 
especially of his wonderful achievements as a commander. Of 
these achievements I was at that time not altogether ignorant. 
His escape from Fort Donelson ; the desperate charge which 
saved Beauregard's army from Sherman's vigorous pursuit after 
Shiloh, in which he was severely wounded ; the capture of Mur- 
freesborough with its entire garrison of infantry and artillery, 
with his small brigade of cavalry without cannon ; the chatge on 
and capture of Coburn's infantry at Thompson's station; the 
capture of the garrison at Brentwood ; and the relentless pursuit 
of Streight's raiders, which ended in the surrender of these gal- 
lant Union soldiers to Forrest with less than one -half of their 
number, had already attracted wide attention and had made him 
famous. The knowledge of these facts, together with a personal 
association with the men who had felt the influence of his im- 
mediate leadership, naturally interested me in his career, w^cch I 
closely followed to the end of the great struggle. When the gen- 
eral government, with wise forethought, began to collect and to 



PREFACE 



place at the disposal of its citizens the official reports and corre- 
spondence, and all the reliable literature of the war, I undertook, 
in the light of these and other authentic papers, a closer analysis 
of his military record. The further my investigations proceeded, 
the more I became convinced that while Forrest was justly ac- 
knowledged to be one of the most famous fighters and leaders of 
mounted infantry or cavalry which the war produced on either 
side, he was more than this, and that a careful and unbiassed state- 
ment of his achievements would place him in history not only as 
one of the most remarkable and romantic personalities of the 
Civil War, but as one of the ablest soldiers of the world. While 
I had hoped, as year after year slipped by since peace was declared, 
that some one abler than I would undertake the task of placing 
in readable shape the story of his life, I had determined if this 
were not done before I should pass into the " sere and yellow 
leaf " to pay this tribute to his memory myself. It has been a 
work of years to gather up from every available source the matter 
relating to this history— his early days, his civil and private life, 
and the accurate facts of his military record. In 1894 I wrote a 
condensed sketch, had it printed in single column upon the 
margin of wide sheets of paper, leaving a large blank space, and 
these I mailed to every surviving officer or soldier of his com- 
mand whose address I could obtain, and to others personally 
acquainted with Forrest before or after the war. All were re- 
quested to return the sheet with corrections, and to add every- 
thing of interest, for the accuracy of which the sender could vouch. 
I also caused the publication of this sketch in various newspapers 
of wide circulation in the section of the South from which his 
troops were chiefly drawn, and asked as well for private letters of 
information. As a result of these efforts a great mass of material 
came mto my possession, and an interest was aroused which en- 
couraged me in the laborious task of sifting the reliable from the 
unreliable, and of making presentable to the reader the matter 
which was worthy of credence. 

To each one of this long list of persons who so promptly and 
generously responded to my appeal I shall ever be grateful. I 
am also under great obligation to many officers and soldiers who 
served immediately with General Forrest, and to a number who 
served m the commands of the Union forces directly opposed 



PREFACE 

to him, for much that is of interest, and that has enabled me 
to present a clearer history of this remarkable man than could 
otherwise have been obtained. It was my good fortune to be- 
come intimately acquainted with the late General Thomas Jor- 
dan, who, associated with Mr, J, B. Pryor, had immediately after 
the war written a book entitled The Campaigns of Lieutcnant- 
General N. B. Forrest, a great portion of the manuscript of which 
book had been perused by Forrest, who had personally made 
important corrections and valuable suggestions. General Jordan 
had for a considerable period after the war been intimately asso- 
ciated with Forrest, and from him I received much that was of 
service to me in the work I had in hand. Naturally the volume 
he had written so soon after hostilities had ceased was pervaded 
by a bias or prejudice for the Southern side of the struggle which 
detracted from its value as an historical document, and many of 
the statements it contained I found were not accurate when 
tested by the official reports which came out later, and to which 
General Jordan and his associate could not have had access. I 
have endeavored to exclude from these pages everything bearing 
upon the civil or military life of Forrest that could not be sub- 
stantiated. In the reports of battles and campaigns, when any 
material differences of opposing commanders were evident, I have 
analyzed the reports, in the effort to arrive at a fair and un- 
biassed conclusion, making every allowance for the natural preju- 
dice of the human mind under the influence of the excitement 
incident to war. 

It has been suggested that certain portions of this book which 
bear testimony to Forrest's harshness and violent temper should 
not be made public, as they might detract from his reputation as 
a man ; but it has been my endeavor to paint him exactly as he 
lived, so that posterity may form its own opinion of him from the 
evidence. To my mind it would be as inexcusable to hide any of 
his shortcomings as it would be to permit the assailants of his 
reputation to go unchallenged. He had his weaknesses, and was 
not an angel by any means, but he was very far from being a man 
who did not have a high sense of right and justice. Personally, 
nothing would please me more than to have left out of my 
book everything which could possibly awaken an unpleasant 
memory or cause the slightest irritation, but simple justice to 

vii 



PREFACE 

Forrest requires a recitation of some of these unhappy inci- 
dents. 

Happily for all, the bitterness engendered by that fratricidal 
struggle has passed away, and while Forrest took the Southern 
side and fought to the last with desperate energy and an intensity 
of purpose unsurpassed, his history and his fame are part of the 
glory of our common country. No spirit more loyal to its con- 
victions ever animated a mortal frame than that which dominated 
his all too brief existence. When his blood-red sword was sheathed 
at last, he took on the modes of peace as earnestly and consist- 
ently as he had carried on the direful methods of war. From the 
day that his battle -flag was furled to the day of his death he la- 
bored for more than a political rehabilitation of the nation. He 
wished it a union heart to heart between the South and the North. 
This was the burden of his eloquent and pathetic addresses to the 
veterans of his command at the annual reunions ; and when the 
hand of the Great Destroyer was laid upon him, in his last will he 
bequeathed his sword to his son with the expressed wish that, 
should occasion offer, he, as his father would have done, would 
use it under the Stars and Stripes with the same devotion and 
earnestness that it had been wielded for the Southern Confed- 
eracy. 

John A. Wyeth. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I 

THE ANCESTRY AND EARLIER LIFE OF N. B. FORREST 

Birth and Birthplace — The Cedar-Log Cabin of the Frontier — William Forrest, Black- 
smith — Shadrach Forrest, the Great-Grandfather, Moves from Virginia to North 
Carolina in 1740 — Nathan, the Grandfather, Emigrates from North Carolina to 
Middle Tennessee in 1806 — William Forrest, the Father, Born in North Carolina 
in 1798 — The Forrest Family in the Duck River Country — The Emigration to 
Mississippi — Death of William Forrest, 1837 — Mariam Beck, " Mother of the Grac- 
chi " — Sketch of General Forrest's Brothers — John Forrest, Wounded in the Mexi- 
can War and Partially Paralyzed, Shoots a Federal Major in Memphis in 1864 — 
William F. (Captain Bill), Aaron, Jesse, and Jeflfrey — Forrest's Mother and the 
Panther — The Boy on the Trail of the Wild Beast — The Widow Forrest Marries 
Mr. Joseph Luxton — She Chastises Her Eighteen-Year-Old Son for Disobedience 
— Anecdotes of the Childhood of Bedford Forrest — An Early Military Lesson — 
He Makes the Moccasins and Coon-Skin Caps for Himself and His Younger Broth- 
ers — At the Age of Twenty He Volunteers in the Army for the Independence 
of Texas — Fatal Affray in the Streets of Hernando — Forrest, Merchant and Specu- 
lator — Successful Young Man in Business — Romantic Courtship— At the Age of 
Twenty-five He Marries Mary Montgomery — He Prospers in His Speculative En- 
terprises — Moves to Memphis as a Broker in Real Estate and Slaves — Becomes a 
Planter on a Large Scale — Abandons the Slave Business and Devotes His Time to 
Cotton- Raising — Several Times Elected Alderman of Memphis — Outbreak of Hos- 
tilities Page I 

CHAPTER II 

MILITARY CAREER 

Forrest Enlists as a Private in Captain Josiah White's Tennessee Mounted Rifles, 
June 14, 1861 — Authorized to Raise a Battalion of Mounted Troops — Establishes 
Headquarters in Memphis — Proceeds to Kentucky to Purchase Arms and Equip- 
ments, which are Successfully Brought Out of Louisville — Secures a Fine Company 
of Kentucky Volunteers — Returns to Memphis — Finds Several Companies have 
been Attracted Thither to Join Him — Rev. David C. Kelley, "the Fighting Par- 
son " — His Comments on Forrest — Evidences of Forrest's Energy and Tact — Or- 
ganization of Forrest's Battalion — Colonel Sam Tate's Prophecy — Forrest's Recruits 
Receive Their Baptism of Fire — Death of Dr. Van Wick — Expedition to the Green 
River Country — First Cavalry Engagement at Sacramento, Kentucky, December 
28, 1861 — Forrest's Famous Manoeuvre First Instituted — Attack by the Rear, 
Flank, and Front — Overwhelming Defeat of the Federals — Vigorous and Bloody 
Pursuit — Three of the Federals Succumb to the Prowess of Forrest — The Gallant 

Starnes First Under Fire — Kelley 's Description of Forrest in Battle 23 

ix 



CONTENTS 
CHAPTER III 

FORT DONELSON 

Grant's Star of Destiny— The First Decisive Battle of the Civil War— General Grant's 
Failures at Belmont and Fort Henry— Despatches and Correspondence between Gen- 
erals Halleck and McClellan in Regard to Deposing Grant from Command— The 
Attack on Fort Henry by the Flotilla under Flag-Officer Foote— Surrender of Tilgh- 
man— Escape of 2610 Confederates of the Garrison— Grant Moves on Fort Donelson 
— His Advance-Guard Attacked and Driven Back by Forrest— Forrest Kills a Sharp- 
shooter with a Maynard Rifle at Long Range— Attack on Buckner's and Heiman's 
Lines on the 13th of February, 1862— Repulse of the Federals— Attack by Foote's 
Flotilla on the Confederate Water - Batteries on the 14th — Signal Defeat of the 
Flotilla — Battle of the 15th of February — Grant's Right Wing under McClernand 
Driven from the Field — The Confederates Make no Effort to Escape, and Retire 
Behind Their Breastworks towards the Close of Day — Partial Reinvestment by 
Grant's Lines — Attack on the Confederate Right by Smith's Division, which Capt- 
ures and Holds One Angle of the Confederate Intrenchments — Council of War 
at Midnight — Generals Floyd and Buckner Decide to Surrender — Protest by 
General Pillow and Lieutenant-Colonel Forrest — Forrest, Refusing to Surrender, 
Leads His Command Out Without Seeing a Federal Soldier — Generals Floyd and 
Pillow, with One Brigade, Escape by Boat — A Number of Infantry Walk Out of 
Fort Donelson and Escape Without Interference — Demonstration of the Fact that 
the Surrender at Fort Donelson was Unnecessary — A Blunder probably Fatal to the 
Success of the Confederacy Page 37 

CHAPTER IV 

NASHVILLE AND SHILOH 

Forrest with His Troopers Reaches Nashville — City in Panic — Mobs Led by Desper- 
ate Men Terrify Citizens and Pillage Private Residences and Public Stores — For- 
rest Charges with His Cavalry and Restores Order — An Attempt to Kill Him by 
the Ringleader of the Mob, who is Felled to the Ground with a Pistol — Impresses 
Wagons and Hauls an Immense Quantity of Supplies to Points on the Railroad 
South of Nashville — Battalion Increased to a Regiment — Forrest Elected Colonel, 
D. C. Kelley Lieutenant-Colonel, and Private R. N. Balch Major — Ordered to the 
Neighborhood of Corinth — Forrest's Scouts Cross the Tennessee and Report Buell 
Advancing — Battle of Shiloh — Charge and Capture of a Battery with Cheatham's 
Brigade — Forrest alone After Dark Penetrates the Enemy's Line and Returns to 
Report the Landing of Reinforcements — Advises Immediate Attack — The Second 
Day's Battle — The Cavalry Cover Retreat — Desperate Charge and Repulse of Sher- 
man's Advance by Forrest at Monterey — Forrest Badly Wounded — This Charge 
Causes Sherman to Desist from Pursuit of the Confederates — General Forrest Ob- 
tains Leave of Absence on Account of Wound — Returns to Duty too Soon — 
Wound Reopens, Necessitating Operation for Removal of the Ball 72 

CHAPTER V 

THE CAPTURE OF MURFREESBOROUGH, JULY 13, 1862 

The Capture of Murfreesborough, July 13, 1862, Considered by General Wolseley 
One of the Most Remarkable Achievements of Forrest's Career — Organization 
of a Cavalry Brigade at Chattanooga — Report of the Scouts as to the Federal 
Situation at Murfreesborough — Forrest Crosses the Tennessee River — Reaches 



CONTENTS 

the Suburbs of Murfreesborough at Daylight on July 13th — Capture of the Out- 
post Pickets without Firing a Shot — Complete Surprise of the Federal Encamp- 
ments — Successful Strategy and Tactics — He Attacks Vigorously the Central Por- 
tion of the Garrison, Cutting the Federals in Twain — Capture of Brigadier-General 
Crittenden — Gallant Resistance by the Ninth Michigan, under Acting Brigadier- 
General W. W Duffield, and the Seventh Pennsylvania, under Major Seibert — 
Detachments Hold the Right and Left Wings Engaged while Forrest Captures 
the Centre — He then Turns First upon One Wing, which He Captures, and then 
upon the Other, which also Surrenders — Twelve Hundred Prisoners, Including 
Teamsters, Provost Guards, etc., and Four Pieces of Artillery — Prisoners Rescued 
from the Burning Jail — Narrative of Captain William Richardson — James Paul, Spy 
— Forrest Retreats to McMinnville with His Prisoners and Booty — Returns and 
Threatens Nashville — Is Pursued by Various Detachments, which He Succeeds 
in Avoiding — Captures Stockades and Garrisons, and Destroys the Railroad — Is 
Surrounded, but Takes to the Woods with His Command, and Escapes without 
Loss — Joins Bragg in the Invasion of Kentucky — Takes an Active Part in the Capt- 
ure of the Garrison at Mumfordsville Page 83 

CHAPTER VI 

THE RAID INTO WEST TENNESSEE, DECEMBER, 1 862 

General Forrest Establishes His Recruiting Bureau at Murfreesborough — Organizes the 
F'amous Forrest Brigade — Ordered to Columbia, and thence into West Tennessee 
— Appeals to Bragg for Arms and Ammunition — Is Told that there are None for 
Him; He Must Go into Tennessee as He Is — Forrest and His Command Cross 
the Tennessee River near Clifton, December 17th — Captures Union Citizens and 
Negroes — Drills His Command as Infantry in Their Presence — Permits the Captives 
to Escape; in this Way Spreads the Rumor Throughout the Country that He Has 
a Large Command of Infantry with Him — Fight at Lexington — Captain Frank B. 
Gurley's Charge and Capture of a Section of Artillery — Capture of Colonel Robert 
G. Ingersoll — Narrative of the Death of General Robert L. McCook — Forrest Pur- 
sues the Federals to Jackson, and Makes a Feint on that Stronghold — Destroys the 
Railroad South of Jackson and tiien Marches North — Capture of Humboldt by the 
Gallant Starnes — Forrest Takes Trenton and Its Garrison — Dibrell Repulsed at 
Forked Deer — Colonel A. A. Russell, at the Head of the Fourth Alabama, Defeats 
the F"ederals at Spring Creek — Union City Surrenders with Its Garrison — Forrest 
Reaches Kentucky — Complete Destruction of tiie Railroads in West Tennessee — Ter- 
rible Experience in the Obion Bottoms — A Bit of Strategy which Did Not Succeed 
— The Battle of Parker's Cross-Roads — Statement of Sergeant Nat Baxter, Jr. — 
Capture of All the Federal Artillery — Forrest Extricates His Command and Re- 
crosses the Tennessee River on the Following Day — Back at Columbia 104 

CHAPTER VII 

FORT DONELSON AGAIN 

General Wheeler Determines to Attempt the Capture of Fort Donelson — Protest from 
Forrest — Communication from Major Charles W. Anderson — Rash Assault of the 
Confederates — Stubborn Defence of the Garrison — Terrific Slaughter among For- 
rest's Men — His Horse Killed within a Few Feet of the Breastworks — Repulse of 
the Confederates — The Attack Repeated — Forrest Has a Second Horse Shot Under 
Him — The Animal Falls upon Him and Injures Him Severely — Retreat of the 
Confederates — Generals Wheeler, Forrest, and Wharton at Yellow Creek Furnace — 
Forrest's Brigade Ordered to Columbia — Reaches There February 17th — Reconnais- 

xi 



CONTENTS 

sance in Force by the Federals from Franklin— The Engagement at Thompson's 
Station — Gallant Conduct of Colonel John Coburn and His Command— Forrest 
by a Brilliant Movement with Artillery and Cavalry Drives the Federal Battery and 
Mounted Troops from the Field and Causes the Surrender of Coburn's Command — 
The Hero of the Day P^gf I45 



CHAPTER VIII 

BRENTWOOD AND FRANKLIN 

A Night Foray within the Union Lines — Capture of a Fortified Camp at Brentwood, 
March 25, 1863, with over Five Hundred Prisoners, a Depot of Supplies, Wagons, 
etc. — Capture of a Strong Stockade, with Two Hundred and Thirty Prisoners, and 
Destruction of Harpeth Bridge — Rapid Retreat and more Rapid Pursuit — Stampede 
of Train-Guard and Recapture of the Wagons — Sudden Appearance of Forrest and 
Starnes — Defeat and Flight of the Federal Cavalry — They Abandon the Wagons — 
General Green Clay Smith's Report — The General of the Army in "General 
Orders" Congratulates Forrest on His " Brilliant and Successful Achievements" — 
Hot Words between Van Dorn and Forrest — Reconnaissance and Engagement at 
Franklin, Tennessee, April 10, 1863 — Van Dorn Attacks Granger — Forrest's 
Division in Action — Surprise of Starnes and Capture of Four Guns of Freeman's 
Battery by the Fourth U. S. Regular Cavalry — Death of Captain S. L. Freeman — 
Recapture of the Battery and Defeat of the Federals by Starnes — Van Dorn and 
Jackson Repulsed — A Day of Blunders for Both Sides 164 



CHAPTER IX 

THE PURSUIT AND CAPTURE OF STREIGHT's RAIDERS 

Streight's Famous Raid — Pronounced by General Rosecrans "A Great Enterprise, 
Fraught with Great Consequences " — Forrest's Relentless Pursuit — The Fight near 
Day's Gap— Night Battle on Sand Mountain— The Ambuscade — Emma Sanson, 
an Alabama Lass of Sixteen, Rides under Fire with General Forrest — The "Lost 
Ford" — Desperate Resistance on the Part of Colonel Abel D. Streight and His 
Plucky Men — Death of Colonel Gilbert Hathaway — Forrest's Indomitable Will 
Holds His Devoted Soldiers to Their Work, and Forces the Surrender of the Fed- 
eral Commander after a Running Fight I-asting Three Days and Nights — The Fed- 
erals Twice as Numerous as the Confederates to Whom They Surrendered — Vote 
of Thanks to Brigadier-General Forrest and His Men from the Congress of the Con- 
federate States J85 

CHAPTER X 

FROM TULLAHOMA TO CHATTANOOGA 

Attempt to Assassinate Forrest— Desperate Personal Encounter— He Kills His Assail- 
ant— A Second Reconnaissance in Force at Franklin— Forrest Drives the Union 
Forces into Their Fort and Takes Possession of the Town— Mistakes a Signal-Flag 
for a Truce and Approaches for a Parley— Chivalrous Act of a Federal Soldier, Who 
Warns Him to Halt— The Execution of Two Confederate Soldiers as Spies, "to 
Prevent the Possibility of Forrest Profiting by the Information They Had Gained" 
—Reconnaissance in Force at Triune— Capture of a Large Herd of Cattle— With- 
drawal of the Cavalry to Tullahoma — Fight at Shelbyville — General Joseph 
Wheeler's Leap— Gordon Granger Misses the Opportunity of a Lifetime— Death 

xii 



CONTENTS 

of the Lamented Starnes — Forrest Meets a Detachment of Wilder's Command in 
a Road and Marches by without being Recognized — The Retreat Through Cowan 
— The Confederate General Put to Flight by a Fiery Dame — Dibrell Whips Minty 
at Sparta — Forrest, South of Chattanooga, and in Conjunction with Wheeler, 
Heads off Stanley's Raid upon the Western and Atlantic Railroad — Encounter 
with W^ilder's Brigade near Ringgold — Forrest again Wounded — Bragg Fails in 
Strategy Page 223 

CHAPTER XI 

THE BATTLE OF CHICKAMAUGA 

General Forrest Opens the Battle of Chickamauga on the Afternoon of Friday, Sep- 
tember 18, 1863 — Engages the Enemy on Saturday Morning — Hot Work Through- 
out the Day — The Artillery in Danger — General Ector Uneasy about His Right 
Flank — Major Anderson Prevails upon the General not to Shoot a Frightened Sol- 
dier Who is Running from the Field — Throughout the Day, on Sunday, Forrest's 
Cavalry Fights in Line of Battle with the Infantry — General D. H. Hill Compli- 
ments the Cavalry — Forrest Heads Granger Off, and Holds the Reserve-Corps of 
the Army of Tennessee in Check over an Hour — Fires the Closing, as He Did 
the Opening, Gun of this Great Battle — Reconnaissance on Missionary Ridge on 
the 2 1st — The Famous Despatch — General Longstreet says " This Despatch Sealed 
the Fate of the Confederacy " — Relieved from Command by Order of General Bragg, 
Forrest Writes the General of the Army — President Davis Invites General Forrest 
to a Personal Conference at Montgomery, as the Result of which He is Assigned 
to an Independent Command in the West 244 

CHAPTER XII 
IN THE NEW FIELD OF DUTY 

Forrest Starts for the West from Atlanta with Four Pieces of Artillery and a Total of 
Two Hundred and Seventy - one Men — Is Assigned to Command of Mounted 
Troops in West Tennessee — Arrives at Okolona — Wretched Condition of Affairs 
in that Section — With Five Hundred Men He Crosses the Trocha and Invades 
West Tennessee — Establishes Recruiting Bureaus throughout that Section — Aided 
by General Tyree H. Bell, and Colonels A. N. Wilson, John F. Newsom, R. M. 
Russell, and D. M. Wisdom, a Considerable Force is Recruited — Forrest Gathers 
Up a Large Herd of Cattle and Other Necessary Supplies and Marches South — 
Fighting in all Directions — By a Brilliant Piece of Strategy He Deceives the 
Enemy, Crosses the Hatchie, and Marches South in Sight of Memphis 272 



CHAPTER XIII 

MERIDIAN EXPEDITION 

Sherman's Expedition from Vicksburg to Meridian — The Cavalry Corps under Gen- 
eral William Sooy Smith Marches from Memphis to Co-operate with Sherman — 
Proposed Invasion of Alabama and Capture of Mobile by Generals Grant and 
Sherman — Forrest with His New Levies Retires Before Smith to the Sakatonchee 
— Engages Him There — Smith Retreats — Is Pursued by Forrest, who Defeats Him 
at West Point, and Again at Okolona — Pursued Relentlessly for Sixty Miles — • 
Death of Colonel Jeffrey Forrest — Capture of General Smith's Artillery — McCul- 

loch to the Rescue — Death of Colonel Barksdale 290 

xiii 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER XIV 

STORMING FORT PILLOW 

Forrest's Third Invasion of West Tennessee— Reorganization of His Command — 
General A. Buford, with the Fragments of Three Kentucky Regiments of Infantry, 
Transferred to Forrest— Headquarters Established at Jackson, Tennessee— Recruit- 
ing Bureaus Opened Throughout West Tennessee and Eastern Kentucky— Capture of 
Paducah— Rash and Unauthorized Assault on the Fort in that City by Colonel A. P. 
Thompson's Brigade— Death of this Brave Officer— Repulse of His Brigade— Cap- 
tarn Tyler's Feint on Columbus— General Buford Returns to Paducah for Horses and 
Recaptures the Place— Forrest Moves on Fort Pillow, which is Taken by Storm— Des- 
perate Resistance and Consequent Heavy Slaughter— Free Distribution of Liquor to 
the Garrison-Evidence Corroborative of the Charge of Intoxication among the Union 
Forces— Exaggerated Statements of Survivors— Committee of the United States 
Congress— The Small Value Placed upon Human Life in 1865— The Report of the 
•'Fort Pillow Massacre " a War Measure Intended for Political Effect— Analysis of 
the Evidence-Proof that No Massacre Occurred-Sworn Statements of Survivors 
among the Confederates : Major-General James R. Chalmers, Brigadier-General 
Tyree H. Bell, Colonel Robert McCulloch. Colonel C. R. Barteau, Lieutenant-Colo- 
nel D. M. Wisdom, Major Charles W. Anderson, and Forty-seven Other Survivors 
—Animated Correspondence between Generals Washburn and Forrest. . . .Page 324 

CHAPTER XV 
EXPEDITION UNDER GENERAL S. D. STURGIS, AND THE BATTLE AT BRICE's 

CROSS-ROADS 
Overwhelming Defeat of the Federal Army-Forrest's Success Pronounced one of the 
most Signal Victories of the Civil War-Morton's Charge with the Artillery-After 
Seven Hours of Desperate Fighting Sturgis is Beaten, and his Command Driven a 
Panic-stricken Mass, from the Field-Relentless Pursuit for nearly Fifty Miles hom 
the Battle-field-Capture of Eighteen Pieces of Artillery and over Two Hundred 
and Fifty Wagons-Federal Loss in Killed, Wounded, and Captured, 2612. ... 391 

CHAPTER XVI 
THE TUPELO EXPEDITION, JULY, 1 864 
General A.J. Smith's First Invasion-He and General Joseph A. Mower "Try Their 
Hands -Sherman Puts a Price on Forrest's Life-Appeals to President Lincoln to 
Promote Brigadier-General J. A. Mower to a Major-General in Case He Should 
Kill Porrest-Far-sighted Men of the Confederacy, among them General Joseph E 
Johnston General Howell Cobb, and Governor Joseph E. Brown, of Georgia Ask 
the President to Give up Mississippi, if Necessary, in Order to Place Forrest in 

s"mT 1 1 m"'7'..'"^ '^"'" "™ ^°°^^ °" Sherman's Communications 

-Smith and Mower March Day after Day in Line of Battle, and Sleep on Their 
Arms a Nigl.t-Skirmishing Continually-Major-General Stephen D. Lee Arrives 
Bl^ Z i\^"T^ i "'' Confederate Troops- Final Collision in Force and 
Bloody Batte at Harnsburg, Near Tupelo-The Confederates Repulsed with Great 
Slaughter-Unable to Drive the Federals from Their Strong Position, They Desis 
from Further Attack, but Remain in Line of Battle and Tn Sight of the'En^y 

on the^D k"„ ^^" r"^' ""^'^^ ^ ^'^'''' Attack-Retreat oflmith and Mower 
on 'he Day to lowmg the Battle-Vigorous Pursuit by Forrest, Who is Painfully 
Wounded at O d Town Creek- Unprecedented Losses in Killed and Wounded 
among the Confederates vvounoea 

430 

XIV 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER XVII 

GENERAL A. J. SMITH'S SECOND INVASION OF MISSISSIPPI 

Forrest Declines to Go to the Rear to Have His Wound Treated — He Has a Buggy 

Arranged so that He can Drive About and Keep His Injured Foot Elevated 

Disturbed by Interference from Richmond with Appointments of Officers Made 
by Him in the Various Regiments of His Command— He Addresses a Strong Con- 
fidential Communication to the President— He is Sustained by the Inspector-Gen- 
eral— General S. D. Lee Transferred, and General Dabney H. Maury Temporarily 
in Command— Sherman Sends Smith Back After Forrest — Report that Forrest Died 
of Lockjaw as a Result of His Wound at Old Town Creek— The Confederates Fall 
Back from the Tallahatchie to Oxford— Forrest Selects Two Thousand Picked Men, 
and Marches Around General Smith's Army and Descends on Memphis, which He 
Attacks on the 21st of August, 1864, Riding into the Heart of the City— General 
C. C. Washburn Escapes from His Residence in Daylight in His Night-Clothes— 
General Ilurlbut Escapes by being Absent from Home for the Night— Sharp Fight- 
ing in the Streets of Memphis— Captain Bill Forrest Rides into the Office of the 
Gayoso House and Dismounts at the Clerk's Desk— Capture of General Washburn's 
Uniform and Effects- Colonel Starr Attacks Forrest, and in a Personal Encounter 
is Wounded— Forrest Returns to His Command— Washburn Scores Smith for Per- 
mitting Forrest to Escape— Smith, as a Result of Forrest's Attack on Memphis, is 
Ordered to Retreat, and Abandons Mississippi to the Confederates Page 460 

CHAPTER XVIII 

FORREST'S RAID INTO NORTHERN ALABAMA AND MIDDLE TENNESSEE, FROM 
SEPTEMBER 16 TO OCTOBER 6, 1864 

President Davis at Last Realizes the Necessity of Turning Forrest Loose upon Sher- 
man's Communications— Sherman Marches into Northern Alabama and Middle Ten- 
nessee—General Richard Taylor in Command of the Department— His Impressions 
of Forrest at This Time— From Mississippi to Cherokee, Alabama, by Rail— Crosses 
the Tennessee at Colbert's Shoals— Surrounds the Federal Military Post at Athens, 
Alabama, which Surrenders Without a Fight— Capture of a Column of Federals 
from Decatur Coming to the Rescue of Athens— Forrest's Clever Strategy and Bluff 
—Capture of Several Stockades Near Athens— The Federal Forts at Sulphur Trestle 
Surrounded— After a Severe Cannonading They Surrender— Elk River Block-House 
Captured and Bridge Destroyed on the Nashville and Decatur Railroad— The En- 
emy Driven into Pulaski— Colonel W. A. Johnson Wounded— Fully Thirty Thou, 
sand Federal Soldiers Diverted from the Georgia Campaign by Forrest's Move— He 
Returns to the Tennessee River— Buford Makes a Feint on Huntsville— Forrest's 
Rear-Guard, Closely Pressed to the North Bank of the Tennessee, Swim Over to an 
Island and Conceal Themselves in the Cane, and thus Escape Capture— He Dis- 
ciplines a Lieutenant— Colonel D. C. Kelley's Brilliant Fight at Eastport— Forrest 
Asks for a Leave of Absence .82 

CHAPTER XIX 

THE JOHNSONVILLE EXPEDITION 

The Request for a Leave of Absence could not be Granted— Immediate Preparation 
for Invasion of West Tennessee— General Taylor Thanks Forrest for His Brilliant 
Success in Middle Tennessee— He Re-establishes Telegraphic Communication with 
West Tennessee— Moves in the Direction of Jackson— Reaches the Tennessee River 
—Batteries Masked at Various Points Along the Stream for the Purpose of Captur- 

XV 



CONTENTS 

ing Federal Transports — Capture of the 3/azepJ>a — GaWant Conduct of Captain 
Frank P. Gracey — Capture of the Gunboats Undine and F^wmj — Capture of the 
J. IV. Cheeseman—The Undine and the Venus Furnished with a Crew from For- 
rest's Cavalry— Colonel W. A. Dawson Placed in Command of the " Horse Marines" 
—Forrest's Fleet Attacks the Federal Flotilla and Suffers Inglorious Defeat— The 
Venus Recaptured, with Forrest's Two Twenty - pounder Parrotts — The Undine, 
Crippled by the Federal Flotilla, is Destroyed by Colonel Dawson, Who Escapes 
with the Crew— Forrest Attacks Johnsonville and Destroys a Large Fleet of Boats 
Anchored There, and an Enormous Quantity of Military Supplies, Valued at Several 
Milhons of Dollars — Terrible Blow to Sherman — The "Arkansas Rats" — Orders 
Received to Join Hood Near Florence, Alabama, for the Invasion of Middle Ten- 
nessee—Forrest's Letter to General Richard Taylor Page 515 

CHAPTER XX 

THE NASHVILLE CAMPAIGN — NOVEMBER 19-DECEMBER 27, 1864 

Forrest Arrives at Florence and is Placed in Command of All the Cavalry of the Army 
of Tennessee — March Towards Nashville Begun — Cold and Stormy Weather — No- 
vember 22d Fighting Begins Near Lawrenceburg, and is Continued on the 23d Near 
Henryville — Severe Skirmish at Fouche Springs — Forrest's Charge in the Rear of 
the Enemy with His Escort — Narrow Escape of the General — Capture of a Num- 
ber of Union Soldiers — Fighting Daily and Obstinately, the Federals are Driven as 
Far Back as Columbia — Death of the Brave Lieutenant-Colonel Dawson, of the Fif- 
teenth Tennessee, Killed in Hand-to- Hand Combat — Tlie Crossing of Duck River 
— Fight at Spring Hill — Federals Defeated — The Federal Army in Great Peril — 
Escapes through Failure of the Proper Transmission of Orders from Hood — Invest- 
ment of Franklin — Forrest Makes a Careful Reconnaissance of the Federal Position 
and Advises Hood not to Attack — Offers to Flank Schofield Out of Franklin with- 
in Two Hours if He is Permitted — Hood Orders the Attack — Terrific Slaughter of 
the Confederates — The Detachment of the Confederate Cavalry on the Left Wing 
Holds its Position — Wilson and Forrest Fight Desperately on the Confederate Right 
Wing — A Drawn Battle as Far as the Cavalry is Concerned — The Death of the 
Gallant Generals Cleburne and John Adams — Large List of Officers Killed and 
Wounded — Confederate Cavalry Pursues the Retreating Federals into Nashville — 
Infantry Arrive and Invest the City — Forrest's Cavalry Detailed to Interrupt Navi- 
gation on the Cumberland — Colonel D, C. Kelley's Rich Capture — General W. H. 
Jackson's Success at Lavergne — General Buford Captures a Block- House on Mill 
Creek — Forrest Directed to Make a Forced Reconnaissance of the Enemy's Position 
at Murfreesborough — He is Attacked in Front of this Place by the Federal Infantry 
and Defeated — The Confederate Infantry Flee Disgracefully — Forrest Shoots a 
Color-Bearer and Rallies the Men — His Cavalry Saved the Day — Defeat of Hood 
in Front of Nashville — Desperate Fighting by Chalmers and Rucker to Protect 
Hood's Rear until Forrest could Arrive — Rucker's Romantic Personal Combat with 
Colonel Spalding — His Right Arm is Shattered and He is Made Prisoner — Heroic 
Defence of the Confederate Position by Chalmers's Troops — Rucker Impresses the 
Federal Commander with the Fact that Forrest is Immediately in His Front — 
Further Pursuit for that Night Discontinued— This alone Saved the Confederate 
Army from Entire Destruction — Forrest Takes Command and Organizes the Fa- 
mous Rear-Guard of the Army of Tennessee— Confederates Safely Cross Rutherford 
Creek and Duck River— Have Three Days' Start of Wilson— Forrest Double-Teams 
the Wagons and Artillery and Saves Everything— Desperate Fight at Anthony's 
Hill and at Sugar Creek— Confederates Escape Across the Tennessee — Terrible 
Condition of the Country through which They Pass — Retreat Continued in the 

Dead of Winter, through Snow and Sleet 534 

xvi 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER XXI 

CLOSING CAMPAIGN OF 1865. JANUARY 1ST TO MAY QTH 

The Opposing Cavalry Forces at Rest — General James H. Wilson's Energetic Prepa- 
rations for the Spring Campaign — The War Should Have Ended with the Battle 
of Nashville — Forrest's Forecast of the Fate of the Confederacy — He Repairs to 
Mississippi with the Remnant of His Command — Troops Furloughed — Roddey Sur- 
prised in Northern Alabama, and Hood's Pontoon-Train Captured — Forrest Made 
Lieutenant-General and Placed in Command of All the Cavalry in ihe Department 
of Alabama, Mississippi, and East Louisiana — He Stirs Up the Authorities at Rich- 
mond in Regard to the Army of Men Commissioned to Raise Companies and 
Regiments— Suggests that They be Put in the Ranks and Made to Fight — Series 
of Letters to Richmond — Seventy-Five Thousand Union Soldiers Ready to Invade 
Forrest's Department in the Spring of 1865 — General Wilson Moves from Waterloo 
towards Selma with Fourteen Thousand Effective Troops — The Most Magnifi- 
cently Equipped Body of Cavalry on the American Continent — Forrest Marches 
towards Selma to Meet Him — Is Forced to Divide His Command to Meet Other 
Invasions — He Flas Two Men Court- Martialled and Shot for Desertion at Sipsey 
Bridge — Wilson Reaches Elyton, Alabama — Detaches Croxton's Brigade on March 
30th, which docs not Rejoin Him until May 20th — Croxton Misses a Great Op- 
portunity to Destroy Jackson's Wagon-Train and Artillery — He Shows Great Cour- 
age and Skill in the Capture of Tuscaloosa — Wilson's Capture of a Courier with 
Forrest's Despatches, Giving Him Full Information of the Disposition of Forrest's 
Forces and Enabling Him to Defeat the "Hitherto Invincible" Confederate — 
Skirmish at Montevallo — Forrest, with Two Hundred and Seventy - Five Men, 
Reaches the Road along which the Rear-Guard of Wilson's Column is Passing — 
Charges and Puts It to Flight — During the Night He Makes a Detour of the Union 
Army and Reaches His Troops in Front of Wilson — Desperate Engagement at Bog- 
ler's Creek — Forrest Assailed by Captain Taylor, who is Killed — One of the Most 
Sanguinary Hand-to-Hand Conflicts Known in the Civil War — Chalmers Fails to 
Reach Forrest in Time — Armstrong Takes the Bull by the Horns, and on His Own 
Responsibility Marches to the Sound of the Cannonade and Reaches Forrest in 
Time to Save Him from Destruction — Battle at Selma — Armstrong the Hero of the 
Day — Defeat of the Confederates and Capture of Selma — Forrest and Armstrong 
Cut Their Way Out — General Wilson's Strenuous Efforts to Prevent Pillaging — 
Surprise of a Detachment of the Fourth Regulars — Surrender at Gainesville — For- 
rest's Farewell Address Page 576 

CHAPTER XXII 
AFTER THE WAR 

After the Surrender at Gainesville, Forrest Starts for His Home in Memphis— The 
Train Derailed near Meridian — Judge C. B. Kilgore Relates that Forrest at once 
Took Charge of the Train and Supervised the Work of Replacing the Cars upon the 
Rails — Arrest of Admiral Semmes — Rumors that Forrest Is Also to Be Arrested — 
General Maury and Colonel Sam Tate Send to Forrest at His Plantation a Letter 
of Credit, and Advise Him to Leave at once for Europe — He Declines to Accept 
Either the Letter of Credit or the Advice: "This Is My Country" — Engages in 
Railroad Building— Altercation with a Contractor, Who Challenges Him— Forrest 
Accepts the Challenge and Selects Colt's " Navy-sixes" at Ten Paces — Mr. Charles 
E. Waller's Statement — Forrest Before the Committee of Congress on the Kuklux 
Organization — Fails in His Railroad Enterprises — His Income Greatly Diminished, 
He Still Contributes to the Support of the Widows and Orphans of His Old Com- 

xvii 



CONTENTS 

mand — Address at the Reunion of the Seventh Tennessee Cavalry — In Failing 
Health — General Wheeler's Description of Forrest's Appearance at this Time — 
Interview with Senator John T. Morgan at Hurricane Springs — Death of the Great 
Soldier on October 29, 1877 — Impressive Burial Ceremonies at Elmwood Cemetery, 
in Memphis Page 615 

CHAPTER XXIII 

FORREST THE MAN AND THE SOLDIER 

The Blacksmith's Son Becomes the ' ' Great Fighting Leader of Fighting Men " — Lack of 
Education Shown in His Spelling — "I Never See a Pen but what I Think of a Snake" 
— His Ability as a Mathematician — His High Sense of Humor and Repartee — Per- 
sonal Appearance as Given by Mr. Bryan McAllister— Habits and Morality— His 
Family Life— Interesting Incident in the Capture of a Federal Chaplain, Entertained 
at Forrest's Headquarters— Forrest Dismisses One of His Best Officers for Immoral 
Conduct— His Work among the Wounded with His Chief Surgeon — Fondness for 
Children — From Private to a Lieutenant-Generalship — "A Prophet is not without 
Honor, save in His Own Country" — Sherman'sEstimateof His Military Ability — Gen- 
eral Joseph E. Johnston's Comments— Opinions of General Beauregard and General 
Wolseley— His Intense Devotion to the South— Wonderful Presence of Mind— The 
Craft and Cunning of the Frontiersman Utilized in Military Operations — Contribu- 
tion of General John T. Morgan— Forrest's Strategy and Tactics— His Reckless 
Courage in Attack — The Famous Movement on the Flank and Rear— The Use of 
His Artillery at Close Quarters — Fierce and Relentless Pursuit — His Aggressive 
Nature— His Gravest Military Fault— Summary and Extreme Punishment of Cow- 
ards—Forrest and Sheridan— Mounted Infantry— An Article of Stonewall Jackson's 
Military Faith— Forrest's Careful Personal Scrutiny of the Men and Animals of His 
Command— He Pays Great Attention to His Commissary— The Value of Discipline 
and Organization ^25 

POSTSCRIPT g-g 

APPENDIX ^y 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



PAGB 

N. B. FORREST, LIEUTENANT-GENERAL Frontisfiuce 

MAJOR C. S. SEVERSON Facing 30 

LIEUTENANT -COLONEL FORREST AND MAJOR D. C. KELLEY AT THE 

BOMBARDMENT OF FORT DONELSON BY FOOTE'S FLOTILLA . . . . " 4^ 
FORREST AT THE HEAD OF THE CONFEDERATE CAVALRY MARCHING TO 

ATTACK THE FEDERAL RIGHT " 5° 

CAPTURE OF THE FEDERAL BATTERY BY FORREST'S CAVALRY ....*' $2 

BRIGADIER-GENERAL GIDEON J. PILLOW " 54 

FORREST'S HORSE KILLED BY A SHELL " 50 

CONFEDERATE INFANTRY ESCAPING FROM FORT DONELSON " 60 

THE CONFEDERATE CAVALRY AND THE ARTILLERISTS ESCAPING ACROSS 

LICK CREEK WITH FORREST " ^ 

LIEUTENANT WILLIAM RICHARDSON " 9° 

CAPTAIN REUBEN R. ROSS " 9" 

COLONEL A. A. RUSSELL " ^°^ 

CAPTAIN FRANK B. GURLEY " ^^° 

CAPTAIN WILLIAM M. FORREST " ^^^ 

" 126 

LIEUTENANT NAT BAXTER, Jn '''" 

MAJOR J. P. STRANGE ^34 

A MAP OF THE SCENE OF FORREST'S OPERATIONS " ^86 

COLONEL STREIGHT CAFfURlNG GENERAL FORREST'S GUNS " 200 

GENERAL FORREST AND EMMA SANSOM ^° 

" 210 

EMMA SANSOM 

GENERAL FORREST'S LETTER TO MISS EMMA SANSOM "^ 212 . 

HOW FORREST CROSSED THE RIVKR WITH HIS ARTILLERY " 2X6 I 

• " 220 

THE LAST STAND OF STREIGHT S RAIDERS 

. *' 230 

MAJOR G. V. RAMBAUT -^ 

COLONEL JAMES W. STARNES ^^ 

261 
LETTER DATED SEPT. 21, 1863 * 

BRIGADIER-GENERAL GEORGE G. DIBRELL Facing 264 

. . " 266 

DR. I. B. COWAN 

. . " 278 

M. C. GALLOWAY ' 

. " 284 

CAPTAIN NATHAN BOONE ^ 

xix 



ILLUSTRAIMONS 

?AGK 

COLONEL E. W. RUCKER ) ^^^.^^^ ^92 

brigadier general tyree h. bell j 

colonel robert mcculloch " 294- 

colonel jeffrey e. forrest " 298 

captain h. a. tyler " 304 ' 

picking off the federals at fort pillow " 326 

colonel w. l. duckworth " 328 

Mcculloch's men taking the first line of fortifications ..." 338 

major charles w. anderson ..." 344 

the CONFEDERATES INVADING FORT PILLOW " 348 ; 

LIEUTENANT LEAMING DELIVERING THE REPLY, " I WILL NOT SURREN- 
DER !" " 350 

THE CONFEDERATES STORMING FORT PILLOW , " 356 

MAP 403 

MAP OF THE BATTLE-FIELD AT BRICE's CROSS-ROADS Facing 404 

THE HAND - TO - HAND STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE TROOPS OF RUCKER 

AND WARING " 408 

MAP OF THE BATTLE OF BRICE'S CROSS-ROADS 4II 

CHARGE OF THE ARTILLERY UNDER CAPTAIN MORTON Facing 414^ 

CAPTAIN JOHN C. JACKSON " 416 L 

BRIGADIER-GENERAL H. B. LYON \ 

CAPTAIN JOHN W. MORTON V " 418 

BRIGADIER-GENERAL A. BUFORD ) 

RETREAT OF THE FEDERALS ACROSS TISHOMINGO CREEK " 42O 

THE CONFEDERATE CAVALRY CHARGING THROUGH THE STREETS OF 

MEMPHIS — ESCAPE OF GENERAL WASHBURN " 472 

COLONEL W. A. JOHNSON " 488 

COLONEL D. C. KELLEY " 498 

BRIGADIER-GENERAL W. H. JACKSON " 534 

BRIGADIER-GENERAL JAMES R. CHALMERS " 538 

LIEUTENANT GEORGE L. COWAN " 60O 

BRIGADIER-GENERAL FRANK C. ARMSTRONG " 602 

LIEUTENANT JOHN EATON " 606 

LETTER DATED SEPT. 18, 1869 " 626 



LIFE OF LIEUTENANT-GENERAL 
NATHAN BEDFORD FORREST 



LIFE OF LIEUTENANT-GENERAL 

NATHAN BEDFORD FORREST 

CHAPTER I 

THE ANCESTRY AND EARLIER LIFE OF N. B. FORREST 

Birth and Birthplace-The Cedar- Log Cabin of the Frontier-William Forrest. Black- 
smith-Shadrach Forrest, the Great-Grandfather. Moves from Virgmia to North 
Carolina in 1740-Nathan, the Grandfather. Emigrates from North Carohna to 
Middle Tennessee in i8o6-\Villiam Forrest, the Father. Born in North Carolina 
in 1708 -The Forrest Family in the Duck River Country — The Emigration to 
Mississippi-Death of William Forrest. 1837-Mariam Beck, " Mother of the Grac- 
chi "-Sketch of General Forrest's Brothers-John Forrest, Wounded in the Mexi- 
can War and Partially Paralyzed, Shoots a Federal Major in Memphis in 1864— 
William F (Captain Bill), Aaron, Jesse, and Jeffrey — Forrest's Mother and the 
Panther-The Boy on the Trail of the Wild Beast-The Widow Forrest Marries 
Mr Joseph Luxton-She Chastises Her Eighteen- Year-Old Son for Disobedience 
-Anecdotes of the Childhood of Bedford Forrest - An Early Military Lesson-- 
He Makes the Moccasins and Coon-Skin Caps for Himself and His Younger Broth- 
ers—At the Age of Twenty He Volunteers in the Army for the Independence of 
Texas— Fatal Affray in the Streets of Hernando— Forrest, Merchant and Speculator 
—Successful Young Man in Business— Romantic Courtship— At the Age of Twenty- 
five He Marries Mary Montgomery-He Prospers in His Speculative Enterprises 
-Moves to Memphis as a Broker in Real Estate and Slaves-Becomes a Planter on 
a Large Scale - Abandons the Slave Business and Devotes His Time to Cotton- 
Raising— Several Times Elected Alderman of Memphis— Outbreak of Hostilities. 

OW and then there comes upon the stage of life, in the 
theatre of this world, a man who so differs from the rest of 

" The innumerable caravan that moves 
To that mysterious realm where each shall take 
His chamber in the silent halls of death" 

that he catches the eye and ear at once, and, as long as he moves 
in the scene, holds the attention of his fellows. When the sable 



N 



A 



I 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

curtain falls, and his part in the drama is over, we who remain to 
fill the minor roles find time in moments of reflection to ask our- 
selves: What manner of man was this, and wherein did he differ 
from others of his kind ? By what mysterious alchemy did the 
elements in him combine to lift him to the stars, while we who 
just as earnestly, with upturned eyes and patient longing, strive 
to reach the realms of the immortals, stumble and fall, perish and 
are forgotten? 

On the 13th day of July, in the year 1821, in a rude frontier 
cabin, amid surroundings which told of poverty, and in the ob- 
scurity of a remote backwoods settlement of middle Tennessee, 
there was born one of these rare beings. The light which first 
greeted his infant vision came through the cracks in the chinking 
between the logs of hewn cedar, or sent its penetrating rays be- 
neath the riven boards of the roof which in overlapping rows were 
laid upon the rafters and held in place by heavy poles and blocks, 
m lieu of nails. This humble cabin, which was his mother's home,' 
claimed no more than eighteen by twenty feet of earth to rest upon,' 
with a single room below and a half room or loft overhead. One 
end of this building was almost entirely given up to the broad 
fireplace, while near the middle of each side swung, on wooden 
hinges, a door. There was no need of a window, for light and air 
found ready access through the doorways and cracks, and down 
through the wide, squatty chimney. A pane of glass was a luxury 
as yet unknown to this primitive life. Around and near the house 
was a cleared patch ofland containing several acres enclosed with 
a straight stake-fence of cedar rails, and by short cross-fences di- 
vided into a yard immediately about the cabin ; rearward of this 
a garden and a young orchard of peach, apple, pear, and plum 
trees The yard fence ran parallel with the public road so newly 
cut through the forest that stumps and roots of trees still showed 
above the level of the ground, waiting to be removed by the slow 
process of decay. 

Across the highway, squatting among the giant cedars of the 
Duck River country, stood a log blacksmith-shop, with bellows 
and forge, anv.l, tongs, and hammer, and the other simple para- 
phernahaof an artisan in iron; and here, "week in, week out from 

as the skilful hand and powerful arm of the workman, with turn- 



WILLIAM FORREST, BLACKSMITH 

ing tongs and sturdy blows of the hammer, wrought the half- 
molten mass into useful shape. 

The owner of this shop was William Forrest, blacksmith, then 
twenty-one years of age, more than six feet in height, with the 
heavy, muscular development of a mechanic. He was an honor- 
able man and a law-abiding citizen, sober and industrious. This I 
have from a perfectly reliable source — from one who lived a near 
neighbor and knew him well. He must have been this and more 
to have won the love and devotion of Mariam Beck, the woman 
of extraordinary character who on this day first held to a mother's 
breasts her twin-born hostages to fortune, his son and daughter. 
If, as was natural on this eventful day, his heart swelled with the 
pride of paternity and a father's love, what height of ecstasy might 
not this humble workman have reached could he have seen through 
the curtain of the future and read the horoscope of that first-born 
boy of his, who was destined to write his name on one of the loftiest 
tablets of the immortals in the Temple of Fame ! But this was 
not to be. 

For three generations the Forrests had belonged to that restless 
race of pioneers who in search of home and fortune had followed 
close upon the heels of the savages, as these were driven farther 
and farther towards the setting sun. While there was yet a nar- 
row fringe of civilization along the Atlantic coast, they were con- 
tent to dwell among the foot-hills of the eastern slope of the Alle- 
ghanies. But when the hardy Anglo-Saxon race began in earnest 
to cross the sea and establish more numerous settlements there, 
these bold and self-reliant frontiersmen, with wives and children, 
packing up their small store of household goods, gathered in lit- 
tle colonies, yoked their oxen to the wagons, turned their backs 
upon the Atlantic, and, cutting as they went a trail across the 
Eastern Divide, plunged into the vast wilderness of the valley 
of the Mississippi. 

Among this class of men was Shadrach Forrest, who about 1 740 
moved from Virginia into the colony of North Carolina, settling 
in that section of country which afterwards became Orange Coun- 
ty when that state was admitted to the Union. 

Here he lived many years, was married, and reared a large fami- 
ly of children. Among these children of Shadrach Forrest was 
Nathan, the second son, who had married in North Carolina a 

3 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

Miss Baugh, descended from an Irish family which had immigrated 
to that section of the New World. William Forrest, the black- 
smith, and the father of the distinguished general, was the first- 
born child of this marriage, having seen the light of day about 
the year 1798. 

Nathan Forrest, with the restlessness and enterprise character- 
istic of his race, accompanied by his aged father and his own 
family, among whom was William Forrest, then eight years of 
age, immigrated in 1806 to Tennessee, and settled north of the 
Cumberland River, not far from the present town of Gallatin, in 
Sumner County. Not satisfied with their surroundings, two years 
later, pushing farther into the wilderness, they finally established 
themselves in the Duck River country in 1808, in what was then 
Bedford County, Tennessee. Here, as William Forrest grew to 
nrianhood, he learned the blacksmith's trade, which was his voca- 
tion when in 1820 he married Mariam Beck. 

I obtained from Mr. J. B. Boyd, an aged and respected citizen 
of Holt's Corner, in this section of Tennessee, the following re- 
h'able information concerning the Forrest family a few years after 
their arrival in Bedford County: "The grandfather of General 
N. B. Forrest, whose first name was Nathan, lived within a half- 
mile of my father's house. In my early boyhood he had a small 
farm and nursery of fruit-trees. He was the father of eight children 
five boys and three girls. William, the oldest son, and the father 
of General Forrest, was a blacksmith by trade. The other sons 
of Nathan Forrest were principally engaged as traders in live-stock • 
except one, who was a tailor. None followed farming as an occu- 
pation while living in this community. There are now none of 
the name living here. While I was yet quite a small boy, Nathan 
Forrest the general's grandfather, sold his place and moved about 
five miles distant. Whether William Forrest, the general's fa- 
ther, continued to work at the blacksmith's trade after leaving our 
immediate neighborhood, I am unable to say. Nathan Bedford 
Forrest, who afterwards became so famous, was born in Bedford 
County, in that portion which was afterwards cut off to form in 
part the county of Marshall. The house in which he was born 

rn'thtsth'en'h /' '^/ ^'''"''"' ^•"'' '""' ^>'^h^ early settlers 
in this then backwoods country. It stood a little less than a half- 
mile from where the village of Chapel Hill now stands, but at the 

4 



MARIAM BECK, "MOTHER OF THE GRACCHI" 

time of which I write this country was very sparsely settled, and 
there was as yet no such place as Chapel Hill. This house was 
torn down many years ago. The Forrest family were all ener- 
getic, high-minded, straightforward people. I have never heard 
of any of them being dissipated or connected with anything that 
was disreputable." 

Of William Forrest but little is known beyond the fact that 
he worked at his trade steadily and earnestly in this sparsely set- 
tled backwoods country, to support a family which rapidly gath- 
ered about the fireside as the years of his married life went swiftly 
by. He is said to have been a man who possessed great deter- 
mination and courage, and to have exercised a considerable in- 
fluence in the small community in which he moved. In 1834, 
when Nathan Bedford Forrest was just thirteen years of age, 
William Forrest, with his wife and children, moved from middle 
Tennessee into northern Mississippi, to that portion of the State 
which had been occupied by the Indians, The aborigines hav- 
ing been transferred to reservations beyond the Mississippi, these 
lands were opened to settlers, and thither he immigrated and en- 
tered a homestead on the banks of a small stream in Tippah 
County, not far from the present village of Salem. Here, in 1837, 
when the subject of this sketch was not quite sixteen years of 
age, his father died, leaving him the " head of a family consisting 
of his widowed mother, six brothers, and three sisters, and to 
these was added, four months later, his brother Jeffrey, a posthu- 
mous child."* 

General Forrest's mother was of Scotch extraction, her parents 
having emigrated from South Carolina and settled near what is 
now known as Caney Springs, not far from Duck River, in middle 
Tennessee, about the time of the admission of this State into the 
Union in 1796. Mr, Boyd writes me: "The family of the gen- 
eral's mother. Miss Mariam Beck, lived near Caney Springs Post- 
office, but they have all either died or emigrated from this place." 

Mentally and physically Mariam Beck was a remarkable woman. 
In stature she was almost six feet, of large, muscular frame, and 
weighed about one hundred and eighty pounds. Her hair was dark, 
her eyes a bluish-gray, her expression gentle and kind ; and yet no 

* Campaigns of General N. B. Forrest. 
5 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

one who saw the prominent cheek-bones, the broad forehead, and 
the deep Hnes of her face could doubt that she possessed great force 
of character, a determination of will, and unusual courage. Hers 
was the ruling spirit of the household, and, although strict and 
severe with her children, it may be said with perfect truthfulness 
that she won their affectionate love and retained it throughout 
her life. Bedford Forrest's love for his mother amounted to adora- 
tion, and was one of the noblest features of this great man's char- 
acter. It is said of this " Mother of the Gracchi," who gave eight 
sons to the service of her country, that she was in her family, as 
well as in her neighborhood, self-willed and imperious to a degree, 
and that, having undertaken any enterprise, she persisted in it un- 
til it was accomplished. It is more than likely that this marked 
trait in the character of her distinguished son was inherited chiefly 
from the mother's side, for once convinced that he was right, his 
determination to accomplish his end was characterized by a fixed- 
ness of purpose which brooked no opposition, and at times bore 
down with almost savage fierceness upon all who stood in his path. 
1 She bore eleven children to William Forrest, and six years after 
his death married Mr. Joseph Luxton, and to this union four 
children were born — three sons and a daughter. 

John Forrest, the brother next to the general, volunteered in 
the American army and served in the Mexican War, and there re- 
ceived a gun-shot wound through the lower part of the spinal 
cord which produced complete paralysis from that point down- 
ward. He could neither walk nor stand without the aid of crutches. 
He resided in Memphis, and was living at the Worsham House 
when the Federals occupied that city in 1862. A Union officer 
with a detachment of men had visited his mother's plantation, 
situated five or six miles in the country from Memphis, and had 
deported themselves in such manner as to arouse the indignation 
of the mother of the Forrests. All of her sons being absent in 
the army except John, she visited Memphis the next day and in- 
formed him of what had occurred. A day or two later, as John 
Forrest was sitting in front of the hotel, this officer passed near 
him, when he stopped him, called his attention to his conduct in 
the presence of his mother, and told him that if ever he repeated 
the offence he would break his crutch over his head. The Federal 
officer resented this remark, and began to abuse not only John 

6 



WILLIAM F., A^RON, JESSE, AND JEFFREY 

Forrest but all the family in severe terms. At this the cripple 
raised himself from his chair, and, leaning upon one crutch, tried 
to strike the officer with the other. His antagonist seized the 
crutch as it was raised in the air, and kicked the remaining one 
from underneath the paralyzed man, who immediately fell to 
the sidewalk. Having full use of his arms, he drew a derringer 
from his pocket and shot the officer, who for weeks lay at the 
point of death, but finally recovered. John Forrest was imme- 
diately arrested, placed in irons, and confined on board a gun- 
boat anchored at the wharf or landing at Memphis. Here he 
remained in close confinement, isolated from all friends and ac- 
quaintances, for some time, and, the news of his arrest having 
come to General Forrest, he at once demanded of the general in 
command at Memphis the proper treatment or release of his 
brother, until he could be tried by law for shooting the officer. 
This demand was complied with at once, and John was set at 
liberty and afterwards acquitted. 

William Forrest, the next son, a captain of scouts, was an ex- 
ceedingly handsome man of large build, big brown eyes, and 
brown curly hair, which in middle age was streaked with gray. He 
served with distinction in the Confederate cavalry, and was wound- 
ed on several occasions. He led the charge upon Streight's col- 
umn at the battle on Sand Mountain, near Day's Gap, the last 
day of April, 1863, and was desperately wounded, his thigh hav- 
ing been shattered by a Minie ball. He had the reputation of 
being a headstrong, reckless, and dangerous character, but was 
neither reckless, high- tempered, nor violent. On the contrary, 
he was modest and reticent in his demeanor, yet possessed that 
quality of courage which did not seem to realize what fear meant. 
He was quick to resent an insult, and, following the rule which 
had prevailed in the frontier community where he was born and 
reared, he believed the only way to settle a dispute was to fight 
it out. 

Aaron Forrest, the fourth son, became a lieutenant-colonel of a 
Mississippi regiment of cavalry, and in the expedition to Padu- 
cah, Kentucky, in 1864, was taken ill with pneumonia, and died 
near Dresden, in west Tennessee. 

Jesse Forrest served with the distinguished courage of the 
family, and became colonel of a regiment. He displayed excep- 

7 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

tional ability and gallantry in the attack on Athens, Alabama, 
in 1864, where he was very severely wounded. 

Jeffrey, the last son and child of WiUiam Forrest, born four 
months after the death of his father, was the pride and special 
care of his distinguished brother, who felt that he must be to this 
fatherless child not only an elder brother, but a father also. Hav- 
ing by the time that Jeffrey was old enough to go to school suc- 
ceeded in amassing a considerable fortune, he determined to give 
him a thorough school and collegiate education, which he carried 
out up to the time the war came on, when Jeffrey, in common 
with all the Forrest brothers excepting John, enlisted. He ex- 
hibited military ability of an order which approached more nearly 
the genius of the great general, became colonel of cavalry, and 
was commanding a brigade in his brother's division when, at the 
battle near Okolona, in the pursuit of Sooy Smith, in 1863, while 
leading the charge, he was shot through the neck and instantly 
killed. 

All of the daughters of William and Mariam Forrest died early 
in life. The sons, whose names have just been given, are now, in 
1898, all dead. 

Of the three sons by her second husband, the eldest two en- 
tered the Confederate service. The third was too young to be 
mustered in. After the war these children, one of whom became 
Sheriff of Uvalde County, accompanied by their mother, moved 
to Texas, where she died and was buried in Navasota, in 1867. 

Macbeth's surpassing apostrophe to his fearless wife might well 
apply to this Southern mother, who consecrated eight sons to the 
god of war : 

"Bring forth men-children only." 

One or two incidents in the life of General Forrest's mother 
will serve to emphasize what has been said in regard to her physi- 
cal prowess, as well as her strong and determined will. They are 
not the less interesting in the fact that the same characteristics 
belonged to her illustrious son, who at the period mentioned was 
but a boy fifteen years of age. 

When the Forrests first settled in Mississippi, so sparsely peopled 
was this portion of the country, from which the Indians had but 
recently been removed, that it was some ten miles to their nearest 



FORREST'S MOTHER AND THE PANTHER 

neighbor. Roads were practically unknown, and those that ex- 
isted were little better than bridle-paths through the woods and 
canebrakes, and had to be travelled on foot or on horseback. On 
one occasion Mrs. Forrest and her sister, Fannie Beck, who lived 
with her, started out on horseback to pay a visit to this neigh- 
bor. When they were leaving for home late in the afternoon her 
hostess presented her with a basket containing several young 
chickens. Their return trip was without incident until they had 
arrived within a mile of their cabin. The sun had gone down, 
and it was beginning to grow quite dark. At this moment they 
heard the yelp or scream of a panther in the dense woods, and 
only a few yards distant. They realized at once that the hungry 
beast had scented the chickens, and was bounding through the 
cane and undergrowth to secure its prey. At the first yelp of 
the animal the horses became frightened and broke into a run. 
Their riders, or at least one of them, was alarmed, and both urged 
their horses towards home as fast as they could go with safety 
over the narrow and rough trail. Mrs. Forrest's sister shouted to 
her from her position in front as they were galloping along to 
drop the basket and let the panther have the chickens, which 
would stop it, but Mariam Beck was not that sort of woman. 
There was too much determination and Scotch grit in her, and 
she declined to do as she was bid. She was " not going to let any 
varmint have her chickens," and on they sped, the horses holding 
the panther safely in their wake, until they approached the creek 
which ran near by their cabin. On account of the high banks of 
this stream and the depth of the water, they were compelled, as 
they reached it, to slacken their speed almost to a stand-still to 
prevent the horses from falling as they slid down the declivity 
and struck the water. This slowing-up enabled their swift pur- 
suer to gain on them rapidly, and, mad with hunger to such a des- 
perate degree that it had lost the natural fear of human beings, 
the beast leaped from the top of the bank, striking Mrs. Forrest 
upon the shoulder and side of the neck with his front paws, while 
the claws of the hind feet sank deeply into the back of the ani- 
mal she was riding. Smarting under the pain and wild with 
fright, the horse plunged forward so quickly that the hold of the 
panther was torn loose, and at the same time the rider's clothes 
were ripped from her back, and several deep, lacerated wounds 

9 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

were inflicted in the flesh of the shoulders as the beast fell into 
the water. The screams of the women brought the whole house- 
hold out from the cabin, which was situated on the opposite bluff, 
and Bedford Forrest came running with his dogs to the rescue. 
The mother, still holding on to her basket of chickens, was lifted 
from the saddle and tenderly cared for by her eldest son and his 
aunt. As soon as she was made as comfortable as possible, young 
Forrest took his flintlock rifle from the rack above the fireplace 
and started towards the door to call his dogs. His mother asked 
him what he was going to do. He said, " Mother, I am going 
to kill that beast if it stays on the earth." She tried to dissuade 
him from going into the woods at that hour, asking him to wait 
until daylight, when he could see what he was doing. The boy 
replied that by that time the trail would be so cold the dogs 
would not be able to follow it ; that he was going now while the 
scent was fresh; the hounds would soon run it into a tree- and 
away he went into the darkness. The hounds soon picked up the 
trail, and followed it for miles through swamps and briers and 
canebrakes, until nearly midnight. After an hour or so of the 
chase, the boy perceived it would tax his strength sorely to keep 
up with the dogs, and fearing they would get out of hearing and 
reach of him he cut a small grape-vine, tied it around the neck of 
one of the oldest hounds, and held fast to the other end of the 
tether. At times the other dogs would get out of hearing, but 
the captive hound followed unerringly upon the trail, and after 
a while, far in the distance, he heard the baying of the pack, which 
told him that they had at least treed the panther. It was too 
dark when he arrived to see the beast, so he waited patiently until 
he day began to break, and then he saw it lying stretched at 
full length on a large limb, lashing its cat-like tail from side to 
side and snariing with its white teeth at the dogs, which had 
never taken their eyes from it or given it a moment's peace. Put- 
ting a fresh primer in the pan of his flintlock, and taking steady 
aim the young huntsman sent a bullet through its heart, when it 

ir e7f " . 'I ''' ''''^- ^""'"^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^^P --^ e-s, he 

started for home where about nine o'clock the same morning he 
arrived to show his mother the trophy he had won 
Fotl'tf " f^^^f ^"ftion and a close observer, who served under 
Forrest from the beginning, writing of his influence upon his men 

lo 



MRS. JOSEPH LUXTON 

after the first few weeks of service, says : " In the short period 
since its organization, this command found that it was his strong 
will, impervious to argument, appeal, or threat, which was to be 
the governing impulse in their movements. Everything necessary 
to supply their wants, to make them comfortable, he was quick 
to do, save to change his plans, to which everything had to bend." 
That this same unbending will came to him by direct inheritance 
seems evident from the following incident : 

Several years after the death of William Forrest, in 1837, his 
widow married Mr. Joseph Luxton, and when the Civil War broke 
out, in 1 861, she resided upon her plantation some few miles out 
from Memphis on the Raleigh Road. The oldest son by this sec- 
ond marriage was then eighteen years of age, and had for some 
months been employed as a clerk in one of the stores in Mem- 
phis, and had enlisted in the Confederate army in one of the com- 
panies organized in that city. On a Friday afternoon he appeared 
at his mother's home clad in a neat-fitting new suit of Confederate 
gray, trimmed with gold lace and other fancy trappings, so much 
in fashion at the beginning of the war. His mother had some 
ideas of her own which the younger generation deemed old-fash- 
ioned, but to which, despite criticism, she tenaciously adhered. 
Some of her neighbors said " she was set in her ways." Among 
other eccentricities she maintained that no meal was so good as 
that which was ground from corn raised on her own farm and 
shelled under her personal supervision, where she could see that 
none of the small faulty grains near the point of the ear were used. 
Every Saturday morning, bright and early, she would send one of 
her boys to mill with a sack of this corn to be ground. As her 
son retired to his room that night she said, " Joseph, I want you 
to get up early in the morning and go to mill with that sack of 
corn." She did not seem to take into consideration the fact that 
he was living " away from home," and was now a Confederate 
soldier. The young man did not respond to his mother's com- 
mand, but went silently to bed none the less determined not to 
soil his new soldier clothes by riding on a sack of meal. The 
mother belonged to that robust and enterprising type of house- 
wife who believed in getting up before daylight and having every- 
thing ready for work by the time it was light enough to see. On 
week-days everybody on her farm had breakfast by candlelight. 

II 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

The next morning, as usual, every one was called early, and all ap- 
peared at the table excepting the devotee of Mars. The old lady 
said to the negro servant who was waiting upon the table, " Tell 
Mr. Joseph to come to breakfast right away "; and continued, as 
the servant went on the errand, " I am not going to put up with 
any city airs on this place." She then occupied herself in pour- 
ing out the coffee for those at the table, and, while so doing, the 
negro returned with a message from her impertinent offspring, 
that "he did not intend to go to mill ; she might as well send one 
of the niggers with the corn." One who was present on this oc- 
casion says : " When this message was delivered, she was just in 
the act of pouring out a cup of coffee, with the cup and saucer 
in one hand and the pot in the other, lifted several inches from 
the table. For a moment she seemed dumfounded at such im- 
pertinence on the part of her son, and then, setting the half-filled 
cup and the coffee-pot down, she arose from the table, told us to 
go on with breakfast, and asked us to excuse her, as she would 
return in a few minutes. She marched out into the yard, broke 
off three or four long peach-tree switches, and went directly up- 
stairs, pulled that eighteen-year-old warrior of hers out of bed, 
and gave him such a thrashing as to justify a remembrance of it 
for the remainder of his life. She made him get up and put on 
an old suit of farm clothes which he had left at home when he 
became a " city chap." The horse was already at the gate, and, 
accompanying the prodigal son that far, she picked up the two- 
bushel sack of corn, put it on the horse, and made him get up on 
top of it, and away he went to the mill. As she came back into 
the house, her eyes flashing and her face red with anger and the 
exertion which the chastisement had called for, she said, " Soldier 
or no soldier, my children will mind me as long as I live." 

It is said that Joseph returned in due time with the meal, a 
wiser and probably a better son. Her influence over her children 
was great and unimpaired to the end. When her distinguished 
son was a lieutenant-general, it is said that he was as docile in 
her presence and as obedient to her as if he were still a boy living 
under her roof, and no one could pacify him in his moments of 
anger or control him as could the mother whom he adored and 
the wife to whom he was always the loyal and devoted lover. 

Of the boyhood life of General Forrest I have been able to ob- 



ANECDOTES OF CHILDHOOD 

tain but little of interest which is reliable. Within recent years 
there was living at Chapel Hill an aged lady, a Mrs. Putnam, who 
was well acquainted with the family of William Forrest. She re- 
membered Bedford when he was a mere child and young boy, 
and lived a near neighbor to his father. She says the only pe- 
culiarity she could recall in him as a child was that at play he 
could make more noise, and, when his mother was whipping him, 
could yell louder than any child in the neighborhood. All of 
which conveys the idea that he had considerable spirit and ex- 
cellent lungs, and that his Calvinistic Scotch mother had not for- 
gotten the Bible injunction, that when the rod was spared the 
child was spoiled. 

A playmate of Forrest in his earlier days, a Mr. McLaren, who 
died recently in Waco, Texas, says that, even as a very young boy, 
Bedford gave unmistakable evidence of the great physical courage 
and indomitable will which became such marked features of his 
character as shown later in life. " On one occasion a number of 
children were sent to gather blackberries, which grew wild and in 
profusion along the fence corners and hedges in the surrounding 
country. In the course of their rambling through the dense 
patches of briers they came suddenly upon a large rattlesnake, 
the rattling tail and angry hisses of which, as it was coiled to 
strike, frightened them so that they abandoned buckets and bas- 
kets and berries in a wild stampede for their homes. The panic, 
however, did not communicate itself to the future soldier. He 
shouted out to his companions to come back and help him kill it. 
This small detachment of young mankind did not seem to have 
confidence in his generalship on that occasion, and paid no atten- 
tion to his orders. Single-handed (and, it might be added, left- 
handed, as he had in infancy developed this sinister preference) 
he undertook to battle with the enemy. The briers were so thick 
immediately about the venomous reptile that, as young Forrest 
approached, he could not from 'a safe distance attack it with 
stones. Procuring a stick long enough to enable him to hit the 
monster and still keep out of reach of its fangs as it would strike 
at him from the coiled position, he soon marched in triumph from 
the brier-patch with his dead enemy looped over the stick with 
which he had destroyed it. 

Even at so young an age, he, in common with all boys brought 

13 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

up in a frontier settlement, became an adept at horseback-riding. 
Neither saddle nor bridle was necessary to the urchins, who 
practically lived upon the backs of these noble animals, which 
they bestrode with the skill and security of seat of Comanches. 
To ride the horses and mules back and forth to the fields in 
ploughing -time, or to the pastures on Sundays, or to take 
them to water when required, or to go on errands to the doctor 
in the nearest town, were occasions in which the younger male 
members of the family, with great enjoyment to themselves, be- 
came useful members of a backwoods community. On one of 
these trips McLaren, who was several years younger than Forrest, 
in leaning over to let his horse drink after he had ridden well out 
into the stream, lost his Barlow-knife from his pocket, and to his 
great sorrow saw it disappear into the muddy water of the creek. 
To him, as to almost any boy in the country, this loss seemed ir- 
reparable, and he gave vent to his feelings in sobs and tears. His 
companion, touched by the grief of his playmate, attempted to 
comfort him by promising to get his knife for him. Riding to 
the shore, he dismounted, stripped off his clothes, and waded until 
he reached the point approximately near where the knife had 
fallen into the water, and then proceeded to search for the lost 
treasure. He would disappear beneath the water and remain 
out of sight as long as he could hold his breath, come up with 
both hands full of mud and gravel, which he would examine to 
see if he had been fortunate enough to include the knife; then he 
would repeat the performance, until finally, after fully a dozen 
efforts, he secured the trophy, greatly to the joy of the loser and 
the satisfaction of the finder. 

On the road they usually took in riding the horses to water 
there lived a neighbor who owned two ferocious dogs, which on all 
occasions would rush from the yard and bark at and chase the 
youngsters on their fleet-footed horses a considerable distance from 
the house. This was great fun for the urchins, who felt perfectly safe 
from their point of vantage on horseback, and no doubt the feroc- 
ity of these animals had been cultivated by the natural proclivities 
of their two-legged tormentors to tease them by yelling and shout- 
ing and throwing stones as they rode by. On one occasion the 
cavalryman that was to be was riding a colt which was not yet 
broken and bridle-wise. As he approached the home of his nat- 

H 



HEAVY BURDENS FOR YOUNG SHOULDERS 

ural enemies, hearing the shouts and the clatter of the colt's feet 
as it came in a swift run along the highway, the dogs rushed 
towards him, barking in such ferocious fashion that, as they came 
within a few feet of him, the horse bounded suddenly to one side 
and pitched his now terrified rider into, as he then fully believed, 
the jaws of death. Springing to his feet as he struck the earth, 
and proceeding to obey the first great impulse to run away, to his 
surprise he noticed that the dogs had fled and left him master of 
the field. The animals, accustomed to having stones and sticks 
shied at them, were evidently taken with panic at having such a 
thing as a boy of this size hurled at them through the air, and had 
sought safety in flight. In after-years General Forrest related 
this early experience, and said he had never in all his life had such 
a fright ; that he sincerely believed the dogs would rend him in 
pieces by the time he struck the ground, and that he did not 
know which feeling was uppermost in his mind, surprise or joy, 
when he found that he was still living and the dogs were gone. 
He said also that it was a valuable lesson to him, which he turned 
to account in other ways later in life — that he had learned there 
the value of a bold attack, even when he knew he was inferior in 
strength to the enemy. 

It may be said with truthfulness that at the age of sixteen 
years, when his father died, Bedford Forrest took up the burden 
of life, and unfortunate circumstances had made the load placed 
upon his young shoulders unusually heavy. He and the oldest 
of the brothers which came after him labored hard in clearing 
new land, and in cultivating that which had already been opened 
up while the father was still alive. They raised corn and wheat 
and oats and cotton, and gathered about them by thrift and in- 
dustry, year after year, a drove of cattle and a goodly supply of 
horses and mules and other stock. General Forrest told with 
pardonable pride to those to whom he was intimately attached in 
later years how, after being deprived of his father, and almost 
the sole dependence of his mother and the children, he would labor 
all day in the field and then at night sit up and work until it was 
late making buckskin leggings and shoes and coon-skin caps for 
his younger brothers. In those primitive days everything was 
hand-made. The mother and the maiden aunt and the older girls 
spun the yarn and cotton thread, wove the cloth on wooden looms, 

15 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

made the clothes, and knitted the socks. There was little brought 
from the outside world save the great luxury of an occasional 
supply of sugar and coffee, bought miles away at the nearest 
country storehouse. So much energy and tact had this young 
lad displayed in the management of his mother's affairs that by 
1840, three years after his father's death, and when he was as yet 
only nineteen years of age, they were enjoying a degree of pros- 
perity and plenty and comfort which at that time was new to 
the family. 

By this time the country around was no longer so sparsely set- 
tled as when they came in there practically as pioneers. Other 
sections of land had been taken up, and near them had settled a 
family with the head of which young Forrest came in conflict. 
This neighbor had an ox, which was so enterprising and agile that 
he set at naught the fences around the Forrest farm, causing much 
annoyance and considerable loss by his depredations upon their 
fields of grain. Young Forrest called on his neighbor on several 
occasions, asked him earnestly and politely to put a yoke upon 
the steer, which would prevent him from jumping the fences; but 
to this request no heed was paid. Finally he said to his neighbor 
that if he ever again found the animal inside of his mother's place 
he would shoot it. A few days later the ox was again seen inside 
the cornfield, and young Forrest, taking his flintlock as he had 
threatened, shot the animal dead. The owner, who was in a field 
of his own not far away, heard the report of the rifle, and, seizing 
his own gun — for in those days the farmers usually took their 
flintlocks to the field with them — hurried in the direction of his 
dead beast, with the seeming intention of doing harm to the de- 
termined youth. The latter, having quickly reloaded his gun, 
approached the partition fence between himself and his neighbor 
sufficiently near to be in range when his adversary should reach 
that point. As the man approached, Forrest told him that he did 
not wish to harm him, but if he climbed up on the fence or made 
any motion towards using his gun he would kill him, and accom- 
panied this threat by bringing his gun down cocked and primed, 
and drawing a steady bead upon his neighbor. The man by this 
time evidently appreciating the pluck and determination of the 
lad, remained upon his own ground and made no effort to do him 
harm. 

16 



VOLUNTEERS FOR THE RELIEF OF TEXAS 

In 1841, when the struggle for the independence of Texas was 
beginning to excite the sympathy and enlist the active aid of 
many citizens of the United States, Forrest, having bountifully 
provided for his mother and her family, joined in a company 
of volunteers which offered their service to the Lone Star Re- 
public. 

General James R. Chalmers, in an address before the Southern 
Historical Society, in August, 1879, says: 

" In February, 1841, when I was but ten years of age, I remem- 
ber well a small company of volunteers which marched out of the 
town of Holly Springs, Mississippi, to the relief of Texas, then 
threatened by invasion from Mexico. In that little band stood 
Bedford Forrest, a tall, black-haired, and gray-eyed youth, scarce 
twenty years of age, who then gave the first evidence of the mili- 
tary ardor he possessed." 

When this company arrived at New Orleans, the transportation 
which they expected to be furnished by steamer to Galveston was 
not forthcoming, which greatly discouraged a number of its mem- 
bers, and led to a partial disorganization. A good proportion of 
the volunteers returned home, but young Forrest, having started, 
would not turn back, and arrived safely at Houston, Texas. To 
the great disappointment of himself and those of his comrades 
who had stood by him, they found there was no need for their 
services in the army of Texas. They were forced to disband 
and make their way back home as best they could. Having by 
this time exhausted the funds which he had carried with him 
from home, Forrest sought occupation as a laborer upon a farm, 
and remained there diligently at work until he had earned suffi- 
cient money by days' wages to carry him back to Mississippi. He 
remained upon the farm with his mother until 1842, by which 
time he had demonstrated so much capacity for business, having 
been remarkably successful not only in the profitable working of 
the farm, but in speculation in horses and cattle, that an uncle 
residing in the town of Hernando, in northern Mississippi, offered 
him an interest in a well-established business there, which he was 
glad to accept. In this mercantile enterprise he was engaged 
until 185 1, acquiring year after year a more comfortable fortune. 
There occurred in 1845, i" Hernando, an incident which severely 
tested the courage of Forrest, the result of which was to bring 
B 17 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

him prominently to the notice of the people in this section of 
Mississippi and Tennessee. An unfortunate personal dispute arose 
between Jonathan Forrest, his aged uncle, with whom he was 
associated in business, and four members of a family of planters 
who lived near by. The quarrel grew warmer, until at last, as was 
too common in those earlier days, a personal altercation took place, 
which ended in a bloody tragedy. Bedford Forrest had won the 
reputation of being a modest, sober, and energetic business man. 
With the transaction which led to this fatal affair he had no inter- 
est or connection. When he saw that four men were preparing 
to attack his relative, he asserted that he was not a party to the 
controversy and did not want to engage in the quarrel, but he 
plainly told these persons that he would not stand quietly by and 
see his uncle unfairly assailed or maltreated ; that if it was to be a 
fight it must be a fair one, not four against one. He had scarcely 
ceased speaking when one of the party drew a pistol and fired at 
him, but without effect, and this was the signal for a general 
fusillade. The older Forrest was shot down with a mortal wound. 
Three of his opponents had pistols, which were turned upon the 
young man, who was wounded, but not seriously. With astonish- 
ing self-control and steady deliberation he had drawn a double- 
barrel pistol from his pocket and had disabled two of his assail- 
ants. A by-stander, seeing him then practically helpless in the 
presence of his two remaining adversaries, ran out and handed him 
a bowie-knife, with which Forrest rushed at one and then the 
other of these men, who fled at his approach and left the town. 
The sympathy of the community in which this occurred was so 
entirely with young Forrest that, in the arrests of all parties 
which followed, he was upon his statement released, while those 
who had attacked him were imprisoned without bail. 

In this same year, on the 25th of April, 1845, when Forrest was 
not quite twenty-five years of age, he had the great good-fortune 
to win the heart and hand of Mary Montgomery, a lady of ex- 
cellent family, refined and educated, who devoted her life to her 
husband and family. It is said by one who knew her most in- 
timately, and was in a position to judge her from her daily 
life, that she filled the measure of the Christian wife and mother. 
The great soldier simply worshipped her. His wife and his 
mother were the guiding stars of his mature life. It is said 

iS 



ROMANTIC COURTSHIP 

of Mary Montgomery that she was of those quiet, firm, yet sym- 
pathetic natures who seemed to take most pleasure in helping 
those in distress. It is a fact known only to a very few of the 
most intimate friends of General Forrest and his wife that, de- 
spite the loss of the great fortune he had acquired when the Civil 
War broke out, there was left to them a considerable income 
after peace was declared. As long as. he lived, the greater por- 
tion of their income was spent by him and his wife in reliev- 
ing the distress of wounded and impoverished Confederate sol- 
diers, and the wives and orphans of those who had died in his 
command. This was kept up to the day of his death, and after- 
wards by his wife as long as she lived. They belonged to that 
type that preferred not to parade their good works to the 
world. 

From Mr. H. S. Halbert, of Newton County, Mississippi, I 
have received an interesting account of the manner in which For- 
rest first met the lady who afterwards became his wife. Riding 
along a country road one Sunday morning, he came upon a car- 
riage stalled in a mud-hole in the highway. As he approached, 
he saw that it contained two ladies, and that the horses were un- 
able to move it. To his disgust, he also observed two men quiet- 
ly sitting on their horses near by and making no offer of help to 
the unfortunate women. Forrest dismounted, hitched his horse 
to the fence, waded through the mud and water to the carriage, 
and asked them to permit him to carry them from the wagon 
across the mud, which they did ; and then, putting his shoulder to 
the wheel, he and the driver succeeded in extricating the vehicle. 
His indignation at the two men who had so lacked in gallantry 
as not to offer their services before he had arrived was so great 
that he did not take time to assist the ladies baclonto their 
wagon, but turned upon the men with the remark that he didn't 
see why they hadn't offered to help these ladies in their dis- 
tress, adding, in a tone full of earnestness and anger, that if 
they didn't leave there at once he would give them both such a 
thrashing they would never forget it. They considered his ad- 
vice timely, and immediately rode away. 

The ladies thanked him earnestly for the kindness he had shown 
them, and were in the act of driving away when Forrest intro- 
duced himself and asked permission to call and make their ac- 

19 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

• 
quaintance. His request, made so gallantly, was granted, and 

from this occasion sprang a life-long and devoted friendship. 

The period in which Forrest lived in Hernando was one which 
was marked by the rapid development of this section of the Mis- 
sissippi Valley. The invention of the cotton-gin by Eli Whitney 
and his co-worKers had given a great incentive to the cultivation 
of cotton throughout the whole Southern country. 

After the Indian reservations in Mississippi were declared open 
for settlers and had begun to fill up with white people, it was dis- 
covered that the land throughout this great basin was admirably 
adapted to the growth of cotton, yielding several times as much 
of this staple to the acre as the hill-lands and the red-clay soils of 
the older States. It had also been discovered that the malarial 
diseases were extremely severe upon the early settlers, who were 
as yet unacclimated. This led to the introduction of negro labor 
in order to work profitably at cotton-raising, and brought about a 
great demand for slaves. Traflfic in the selling and buying of ne- 
groes was as common in the cotton-belt of the South at this period 
as the buying and selling of horses or cattle, or any other mer- 
chantable live product. The exceptions were extremely lare to 
this statement, that everybody bought and sold slaves, either for 
the profit that was in the transaction or for motives which ap- 
peared to them less selfish. 

Into this business Bedford Forrest had entered on as large a 
scale as his limited means would permit, while he was engaged 
in mercantile pursuits with his uncle at Hernando. As his capital 
accumulated under the energy and tact which he exercised, he 
closed out the business in Hernando, and, moving to Memphis, 
settled there, devoting his time as a broker in real estate in this 
rapidly growing young city, and as a speculator in slaves. 

Colonel George W. Adair, now living (1898) in Atlanta, Geor- 
gia, was intimately associated with Bedford Forrest during this 
period of his career. He says: " Forrest was kind, humane, and 
extremely considerate of his slaves. He was overwhelmed with 
applications from a great many of this class, who begged him to 
purchase them. He seemed to exercise the same influence over 
these creatures that in a greater degree he exercised over the sol- 
diers who in later years served him as devotedly as if there was 
between them a strong personal attachment. When a slave was 

20 



A COURAGEOUS DEED 

purchased for him his first act was to turn him over to his negro 
valet, Jerry, with instructions to wash him thoroughly and put 
clean clothes on him from head to foot. Forrest applied the rule of 
cleanliness and neatness to the slaves which he practised for him- 
self. In his appearance, in those ante-bellum days, he was ex- 
tremely neat and scrupulously clean. In fact, so particular was 
he in regard to his personal appearance that some were almost 
inclined to call him foppish. The slaves who were thus trans- 
formed were proud of belonging to him. He was always very 
careful when he purchased a married slave to use every effort to 
secure also the husband or wife, as the case might be, and unite 
them, and in handling children he would not permit the separa- 
tion of a family." 

Not a great while after he had established himself in Mem- 
phis there occurred a thrilling incident in which he took a 
part so prominent that it added to his reputation as a man 
of desperate courage. It may also serve to explain why, a few 
years later, when the call for arms was sounded, men natu- 
rally turned to him as a leader in those troublous days. There 
was living in Memphis a man of wealth and considerable influ- 
ence, who, in an unfortunate moment, and as it was then be- 
lieved by a large majority of the citizens, without just provoca- 
tion or cause, had taken an unfair advantage of and killed one of 
his neighbors in that city. So great was the indignation which 
was aroused by what was at the time deemed an outrageous mur- 
der, that the slayer was taken to the county jail, locked up, and 
heavily guarded, in order to protect him from being hanged by a 
mob which soon surrounded the enclosure, and were preparing to 
overcome the guard and batter in the doors in order to reach 
their victim. Hearing of what was transpiring at the jail, Forrest 
repaired thither, and arrived on the scene just in time to see the 
mob successful in effecting an entrance to the building. With no 
motive but to protect one who was helpless and who might suffer 
unjustly at the hands of an infuriated and unreasonable mob, 
wishing only to have the law take its course, without regard to 
his personal safety he made his way to the jail door, pushed those 
away who were nearest the prisoner, and, interposing himself be- 
tween the victim and the leaders of the crowd, drew from his 
pocket a knife, and, holding it on high in that ready left hand 

21 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

which he always used by preference in moments of excitement, 
declared in earnest tones, which no one who heard him and saw 
the expression of his face could doubt, that he would kill any 
man or men that laid a hand upon the prisoner. He then ad- 
dressed the people and their leaders in an impassioned speech, 
appealing to their calmer reasoning and better judgment, which 
with his desperate earnestness so swayed the mob that in half an 
hour they had left the premises. The prisoner was again turned 
over to the jailer, and the mob made no further effort to prose- 
cute its unlawful undertaking. 

Nathan Bedford Forrest had not resided long in Memphis before 
he had made a favorable impression upon the citizens of the new 
community in which he had cast his lot. He was, without oppo- 
sition, nominated and elected a member of the Board of Aldermen 
of this thriving and rapidly growing city, was re-elected several 
times to the office, and finally resigned just before the outbreak of 
the Civil War, in order to attend more closely to the cultivation 
of cotton. Within the last ten years of his business career he 
had at various times invested in purchases of valuable uncleared 
cotton lands along the Mississippi River, and among these were 
two extensive plantations in Coahoma County, in Mississippi. 
In 1859 he closed out his real estate and slave business in Mem- 
phis and devoted his time entirely to looking after the interests 
of his plantations. On a scale of such magnitude did he now en- 
gage in this enterprise, and with such success, that from his various 
properties in 1861 there was yielded to him one thousand bales 
of cotton, or approximately $30,000, as an annual income. 

The Mayor of Memphis said of Forrest : " While he was an 
official of the city he never offered a resolution in the board on 
any subject, no matter how unpopular it might be at first, that 
he did not stick to it and work at it until he carried it trium- 
phantly through." * 

* Campaigns of General N, B. Forrest. 



CHAPTER II 

MILITARY CAREER 

Forrest Enlists as a Private in Captain Josiah White's Tennessee Mounted Rifles, 
June 14, 1861 — Authorized to Raise a Battalion of Mounted Troops — Establishes 
Headquarters in Memphis — Proceeds to Kentucky to Purchase Arms and Equip- 
ments, which are Successfully Brought Out of Louisville — Secures a Fine Company 
of Kentucky Volunteers — Returns to Memphis — Finds Several Companies have 
been Attracted Thither to Join Him — Rev. David C. Kelley, "the Fighting Par- 
son" — His Comments on Forrest — Evidences of Forrest's Energy and Tact — Or- 
ganization of Forrest's Battalion — Colonel Sam Tate's Prophecy — Forrest's Recruits 
Receive their Baptism of Fire — Death of Dr. Van Wick — Expedition to the Green 
River Country — First Cavalry Engagement at Sacramento, Kentucky, December 
28, 1861 — Forrest's Famous Manoeuvre First Instituted — Attack by the Rear, 
Flank, and Front — Overwhelming Defeat of the Federals — Vigorous and Bloody 
Pursuit — Three of the Federals Succumb to the Prowess of Forrest — The Ciallant 
Starnes First Under Fire — Kelley 's Description of Forrest in Battle. 

THE military career of N. B. Forrest began on the 14th of 
June, 1861, the date of his enlistment at Memphis as 
a private soldier in Captain Josiah White's Tennessee 
Mounted Rifles Company.* It constituted Company D in the 
Sixth Tennessee Battalion, which was organized September 7, 
1 861, and later became a part of the famous Seventh Tennessee 
Regiment of Cavalry, which surrendered under his command, at 
Gainesville, Alabama, in May, 1865. The first official record of 
Captain White's company on file is dated August 20, 1861, and 
the name of Nathan B. Forrest does not appear on the rosterf 
for the reason that he had been transferred for other duty in July 
of that year. 

Forrest's high character as a man of probity and courage, his 
success in business, and the position he had attained in Memphis 
were too well known to permit him to remain in the ranks, A 
few days after he had enlisted, influential citizens of that com- 

* History of the Seventh Tennessee Cavalry, by J. P. Young, 
t War Office Records, Washington, D. C. 

23 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

munity visited Nashville to confer with Ishain G. Harris, Govern- 
or of Tennessee, and General Leonidas Polk. Their representa- 
tions obtained for him authority from the provisional government 
of the Confederacy at Montgomery to raise a battalion of cavalry 
for the volunteer service. Upon the receipt of this ofificial au- 
thority, Forrest went to work to secure enlistments for the pro- 
posed command. There appeared in the Memphis Daily Appeal 
of this date the following notice : 

" A CHANCE FOR ACTIVE SERVICE-MOUNTED RANGERS 

" Having been authorized by Governor Harris to raise a battalion of 
mounted rangers for the war, I desire to enlist five hundred able-bodied 
men, mounted and equipped with such arms as they can procure (shot-guns 
and pistols preferable), suitable to the service. Those who cannot entirely 
equip themselves will be furnished arms by the State. When mustered in, 
a valuation of the property in horses and arms will be made, and the amount 
credited to the volunteers. Those wishing to enlist are requested to report 
themselves at the Gayoso House, where quarters will be assigned until such 
time as the battalion is raised. N. B. Forrest." 

Appreciating the inability of the new government to furnish 
suitable arms and equipment for his men, with characteristic fore- 
sight, scattering his agents through northern Alabama, middle 
and west Tennessee, and northern Mississippi to secure recruits, 
he supplied himself with ample funds from his private resources, 
and on horseback secretly made a trip to Kentucky and the Ohio 
River country, where proper material could be purchased. Al- 
though Kentucky had at this time not declared itself for or 
against the Union, and was practically neutral territory, in the 
section of this State bordering on the Ohio River the prevailing 
sentiment was strong in favor of the Union. Deeming it wise 
to refrain from any overt act which might attract attention at 
Frankfort, Lexington, and other large towns, he only made his 
presence and business known to Southern sympathizers, to whom 
he had confidential letters, and these he employed as agents. All 
the pistols, guns, saddles, blankets, and other cavalry equipment 
that could be purchased without attracting attention and carried 
south in wagons by unfrequented highways were gathered up 
and sent away. He visited Louisville, taking the precaution to 
remain at the house of a friend a few miles in the country, and 

24 



RAISING TROOPS FOR CONFEDERATE SERVICE 

day after day visited the city, where his agents secured a large 
supply of much-needed material. In small quantities this was 
carried in delivery wagons and stored in a large livery-stable in 
the suburbs. 

Mr. C. VV. Button says: "At Louisville I was introduced to 
Forrest by my father. He had bought a large number of navy 
pistols, saddles, and other cavalry equipments, which had been 
stored in a livery-stable in Louisville. Six young volunteers, 
none of whom were over eighteen years of age, met him by ap- 
pointment at the stable, and late in the night carried the articles 
in coffee sacks through the door into a back alley. Here wagons 
were ready to receive them, and when all were loaded we started 
out on the Elizabethtown turnpike."* 

While on this expedition, hearing that a company of mounted 
troops had been organized for the Confederate service, by Cap- 
tain Frank Overton, in Meade and Breckenridge counties, Ken- 
tucky, Forrest repaired thither and induced this officer to join his 
forming battalion. He advised him to divide his company, which 
was well mounted but had no arms, into small detachments of 
from two to six men, which should start on different dates and by 
different routes, travel through portions of the country most re- 
mote from the larger settlements, and rendezvous in the neighbor- 
hood of Nolin, a station on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, 
well towards the Tennessee border. 

Here without molestation Forrest arrived with supplies, and in 
due time arms and equipment were furnished to Captain Over- 
ton's company, which was mustered in as the " Boone Rangers." 
At the head of this fine body he proceeded overland to Memphis, 
where he arrived the first week in August. 

During his absence a splendid company had been recruited in 
Memphis by Captain Charles May, which, in honor of the future 
commander, had been named the " Forrest Rangers," and upon 
these two companies the future organization was effected. A few 
days later a company of Texans arrived, and an additional Tennes- 
see company reported as ready to join, while several companies 
from northern Alabama had been gathered in. 

As captain of one of these Alabama companies there came the 

* Mr. C. W. Button, in the Confederate Veteran, p. 478, September, 1897. 

25 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

Rev. David C. Kelley, a man of strong character and earnest con- 
victions, who believed so earnestly in the cause of the South that 
he laid aside his pastoral duties, raised a company of mounted 
troops, and was now ready to enter the active service of the Con- 
federacy. This shrewd observer and scholarly gentleman became 
intimately associated with Forrest, and served throughout the 
war under him as one of his most intimate friends. He says: " I 
had taken a company to Memphis for equipment. There were a 
number of companies of cavalry congregated there for the same 
purpose. In attempting to get my requisitions through the va- 
rious departments I found that persistent watchfulness enabled 
me to accomplish what I desired ahead of any ol^cer with whom 
I had to contend, except when I came in contact with the requi- 
sitions of N. B. Forrest." 

The Alabama companies referred the question of joining the 
battalion to Captain Kelley, and this officer had the wisdom to 
recognize in Forrest, even at this early date, a man of extraor- 
dinary ability, and one that could be relied upon as a leader. 

By the first week of October, 1861, Forrest had succeeded in at- 
tracting to his standard eight companies of mounted volunteers, 
which were organized into a battalion : Company A, Captain 
Overton, from the vicinity of Brandenburg, Kentucky, about 
90 strong, Company B, Captain Bacot, from southern Ala- 
bama, 80 ; Company C, Captain May, from Memphis, 90 ; Com- 
pany D, Captain Gould, from Texas, about 90; Company E, 
Captain Trewhitt, from Gadsden, Alabama, 80; Company F, 
Captain Kelley, from Huntsville, Alabama, about 90 ; Company 
G, Captain Logan, from Harrodsburg, Kentucky, 45 ; Company 
H, Captain Milner, Marshall County, Alabama, 85 — a complement 
of about 650, rank and file. 

N. B. Forrest was elected lieutenant - colonel, Captain D. C. 
Kelley was chosen as major. Lieutenant C. A. Schuyler was ap- 
pointed adjutant, J. P. Strange sergeant-major, and S. M. Van 
Wick surgeon of this battalion. Lieutenant Hambrick was 
elected captain to fill the vacancy made by the promotion of Ma- 
jor Kelley.* 

Notwithstanding the great care Forrest had taken to secure 

* Campaigns of General N. B. Forrest. 
26 



THE "FORREST RANGERS" UNDER FIRE 

suitable weapons for his men when the organization was effected, 
fully one-half of the troops had nothing better in the way of arms 
than double-barrel shot-guns, which they had brought with them 
from their homes. 

By the last week of October the battalion was ready for duty. 
Under Lieutenant-Colonel Forrest it was ordered to proceed to 
Dover on the Cumberland River, and report there to Colonel A. 
Heiman, who was in command, and who was then beginning to 
throw up earthworks and fortify the point which afterwards be- 
came famous as Fort Donelson. 

In a spirit of prophecy, Colonel Sam Tate,"*^ at that time presi- 
dent of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, wrote on the 4th 
of November, 1861, to General Albert Sidney Johnston as follows: 
" Colonel Forrest's regiment of cavalry, as fine a body of men as 
ever went to the field, has gone to Fort Donelson. Give For- 
rest a chance and he will distinguish himself." 

From Dover the new battalion was ordered to the headquarters 
of General Lloyd Tilghman, at Hopkinsville, and was placed in 
observation in the stretch of country between the Cumberland 
and Green rivers in Kentucky. While engaged in this outpost 
duty a detachment under Major D. C. Kelley by a clever ruse 
captured a steam transport on the Ohio River, and, much to the 
delight of the Confederates, found it loaded with a rich booty of 
blankets and other army supplies, which were promptly appro- 
priated. While at Princeton, Kentucky, at this time, Forrest 
received information that the gunboat Conestoga, of Admiral 
Foote's flotilla, had steamed up the Cumberland with the inten- 
tion, as was believed, of destroying a storehouse of the Confed- 
erate commissary at Canton Landing. A rapid march brought 
the entire battalion on the ground early on the following morn- 
ing. The command had been reinforced by a small detachment 
of artillerists under Lieutenant Sullivan with one four- pounder 
gun. This was masked, and the troops concealed in the brush 
and timber and behind logs along the bank close to the point at 
which it was hoped the vessel would land. The commander of 
this craft, however, was too clever to be caught in such clumsy 
fashion, and, stopping short of the landing several hundred yards, 

* Official Records, vol. iv. p. 513. 
27 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

dropped his anchor and proceeded to throw some shells into the 
timber, in order to be sure that no lurking enemy might take him 
unawares. Lieutenant Sullivan, of the artillery, under orders from 
Lieutenant-Colonel Forrest, responded with his four-pounder, but 
by the time he had fired two rounds the broadsides from the 
heavy armament of the gunboat made his position untenable, and 
he withdrew his small gun to a position of safety some distance 
in the rear. Forrest's troopers, however, for the first time under 
fire, did not seem to be greatly disturbed by the tremendous noises 
which the Federal batteries and the screaming missiles were mak- 
ing, and stood their ground for several hours during this unequal 
combat. The Federal commander, at last concluding that these 
men were not worth the ammunition he was wasting upon them, 
or that it was not safe for him to attempt to land to destroy the 
stores which had been the object of his expedition, closed his 
port-holes and steamed away down the Cumberland. The lieu- 
tenant-colonel of cavalry was well pleased with the manner in 
which his raw recruits had taken their baptism of fire. They 
may not have accomplished much in the killing and wounding of 
their enemies, but they had shown an eagerness for fighting 
which augured well for the future. 

From Canton Landing the command marched to Hopkinsville, 
reaching there on the 21st of November, where they remained for 
the balance of this month. At this point the battalion was in- 
creased by two additional companies, one from Huntsville, Ala- 
bama, under Captain D. C. Davis, and another, known as " The 
McDonald Dragoons," under Captain Charles McDonald, giving 
it a total of ten companies, and increasing the complement of 
effectives to about seven hundred and ninety men. 

On November 24th, under orders from Brigadier-General Charles 
Clark, in whose district Forrest was now stationed, he was directed 
to take some three hundred men and make a reconnaissance in the 
direction of the Ohio River. With these troops he marched to 
Greenville, where he was fortunate enough to make a capture of 
some arms and equipments which had been collected by the Union 
forces. Thence he proceeded to Caseyville, on the Ohio River, and 
on in the direction of Marion, in Crittenden County. Approach- 
ing this village, Forrest was informed of the arrest of a prominent 
citizen, who had been thrown into prison upon the charge of being 

28 



DEATH OF DR. VAN WICK 

a "Southern sympathizer." On inquiry it was learned that two 
extreme Unionists had been the instigators of this arrest, and it 
was determined to hold them as hostages for the safety of the 
imprisoned Southerner, who, upon the approach of the Confed- 
erate cavalry, had been spirited away to a place of greater secur- 
ity. One of the prisoners it was intended to arrest was Jonathan 
Bells, and Forrest in person took charge of the detachment which 
had this particular duty in hand. As he at the head of this small 
body of troopers was riding along the highway, side by side with 
Dr. Van Wick, the surgeon of the battalion, and as he approached 
the house of Mr. Bells, some one from within, mistaking the doctor, 
who was dressed in full uniform, for the officer in command of the 
squadron, selected him as his victim, and with deadly aim sent a 
bullet through his heart. The man who fired the shot ran out of 
the house through a rear door, and escaped in the woods. Luck- 
ily for Forrest (who might well from this day be baptized as "the 
man with the charmed life ") and the cause which he had espoused, 
the unfortunate physician, the man of peace, was made a target 
by the Kentucky backwoodsman, while the man of war, the fierce 
fighter that was to be, escaped unharmed. Had that missile been 
directed at the leader of this expedition with an aim as unerr- 
ing, it would not be far from the truth to say that it would have 
been to the cause of the Union the most valuable piece of metal 
fired from the Northern side. 

Forrest reports that during the three weeks consumed in this 
expedition the troops were kept busy gathering up hogs, cattle, 
horses, and other supplies, which were driven south for the future 
needs of the army. " It is believed that the expedition has done 
great good in giving countenance to the Southern sympathizers 
in this region, and of disabusing the minds of the Union people, 
who expected every species of outrage at the hands of the 
Confederate soldiers. Not a few assured us that they would no 
longer use their influence against the cause of the South. Uni- 
versal kindness was the part of the officers in command." * 

On the return trip to Hopkinsville, a squadron of Federal cav- 
alry, estimated at about four hundred in number, followed the 
Confederates for a part of one day, and, although Forrest turned 

* Official report. 
29 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

on them and offered battle, they showed no disposition to close 
with him. 

Reporting to General Clark with the supplies he had gathered, 
on Thursday, December 26th, he was directed to make a tour of 
observation in the direction of Henderson, Kentucky. Taking a 
detail from Companies A, C, and D of his own battalion, which 
he placed respectively in charge of Lieutenant Crutcher and Cap- 
tains May and Gould, and additional details from Companies E, 
F, and G, under Major D. C. Kelley, and an independent detach- 
ment of twenty-five Kentuckians under Captain Merriwether, For- 
rest started upon this expedition. On Saturday morning, Decem- 
ber 28, 1 861, a company of forty Tennesseeans, under the immediate 
command of Captain Starnes and Lieutenant McLemore, overtook 
Forrest and volunteered to accompany him. A few hours later on 
this same day a scout reported that a body of Federal cavalry, es- 
timated at about five hundred in number, had crossed the road 
some eight miles distant and were moving at that time in the 
direction of a small village called Sacramento. These he deter- 
mined if possible to overtake and attack, and the order to *' move 
up " was given at once, and all pressed forward at a rapid gait. 
Nearing this village the command was augmented by an unex- 
pected volunteer in the person of a Kentucky belle, who, mounted 
on a magnificent horse, with more enthusiasm than discretion, gal- 
loped by his side and cheered him and his soldiers on to the con- 
flict. The gallant sabreiir so far forgot the strict business of his 
ofificial report as to embody in that document the acknowledg- 
ment that "her untied tresses, floating in the breeze, infused 
nerve into my arm and kindled knightly chivalry in my heart." * 

One mile from Sacramento, Forrest came in sight of the rear 
guard of the Union cavalry, which had halted, seemingly in doubt 
whether friends or foes were behind them. Seizing a rifle from 
the hands of one of his men, he settled all doubt in the minds of 
the enemy by firing the opening shot at them. Satisfied with this 
information, the Union videttes immediately disappeared in the 
direction of their main column. 

With seeming disregard for tactical formation, Forrest ordered 
his men to follow him, directing them not to fire until they were 

* Official Records, vol. vii. p. 65. 
30 




MAJOR C. S. SEVERSON 
Chief Quartermaster. Forrest's Cavalry 



SUCCESS OF FORREST'S MANCEUVRE 

within close range. As they galloped along the road the enemy- 
was soon in sight, deployed in line across and on either side of the 
highway in a heavy grove, and from this position they at once 
opened upon the Confederate advance at a range of about two 
hundred yards. Recognizing the danger of moving directly upon 
them in column, Forrest for the first time (it was his first op- 
portunity) put into execution the manoeuvre which he after- 
wards practised so frequently and with such signal success in 
nearly all of his encounters. Posting his men on horseback in a 
position of least exposure, he threw forward a certain number 
dismounted as skirmishers, with orders to keep the attention of 
the enemy in their front actively engaged. As Starnes with his 
detachment and Kelley with a portion of the three companies 
under him came up, a hurried conference was held, and the fa- 
mous movement by the flank and rear, and which preceded the 
charge from the front, was inaugurated. While Starnes took 
the left with thirty men, Kelley moved to the right with sixty 
more, all mounted, and starting from a point which could not 
be observed by the enemy. The dismounted troopers in front, 
behind trees and logs and in fence corners, were firing away 
and receiving volleys in return. As Kelley's column swung into 
view towards their right, and Starnes threatened the other flank, 
Forrest, with sabre in hand and eye all strained to catch the 
first suggestion of confusion in the Union line, saw the mo- 
ment had come, and, shouting in a manner which evinced the 
most intense excitement, " Charge ! Charge !" was off at full speed 
in the direction of the enemy. With no semblance of formation 
the troopers followed, each seemingly bent on keeping up with 
their leader, who, standing up in his stirrups, his sabre in the left 
hand, looked a foot taller than any of his men. Threatened on 
both flanks, and assailed in such desperate fashion from the front, 
the Union cavalry, despite the gallant efforts of their officers to 
hold them to their work, broke and fled. For nearly one mile to 
and then through the village the pursuit and flight were little more 
than a horse-race. The best mounted of the Confederates, among 
whom were Forrest, the impetuous Starnes,* and Captain Merri- 

* Dr. J. W. Starnes became Colonel of the Fourth Tennessee Cavalry and 
won great distinction as a fighter. He was killed on the skirmish-line in 
front of TuUahoma in 1863, 

31 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

wether, soon began to overhaul the rear of the fleeing troopers, who 
either surrendered or went down at close range with sabre thrust 
or pistol-shot. 

Beyond Sacramento the Union officers succeeded in rallying a 
squadron of the fugitives and turned upon their pursuers in a des- 
perate and bloody combat hand to hand. Forrest, still in advance, 
found himself confronted by this determined detachment of the 
Union cavalry, and at such headlong speed was he running tow- 
ards them that before he could check his horse he was in their 
midst engaged in a desperate fight for his life. The Confederate 
Captain Merriwether, close at his heels, fell instantly dead from a 
pistol-shot through the brain. Assailed from all sides, Forrest's 
skilful left hand stood him in good need. Before they could strike 
him down a quick thrust from his sabre brought Captain Bacon 
down mortally wounded. Private W. H. Terry, one of the fore- 
most of the Southern troopers, was by Forrest's side, and in spur- 
ring his horse between his leader and the Federal Captain Davis, 
who was endeavoring to reach the Confederate chieftain, he re- 
ceived a fatal sabre wound. Forrest rushed at Davis at full speed 
in the hope of saving Terry, but was a second too late. His horse 
collided with that of his plucky antagonist, and both animals with 
their riders fell in a heap. The Federal officer struck the ground 
with such velocity that his shoulder was dislocated, rendering him 
incapable of further resistance, whereupon he surrendered. Be- 
yond the severe shock and several bruises received in this fall, 
Forrest escaped uninjured. Of the squadron which turned to offer 
battle none escaped. It was brave and brief work soon ended. 
Under the personal prowess of Forrest in this affair three of the 
enemy went down. It was at this moment that Major Kelley 
rode up. He says: " Forrest seemed in desperate mood and very 
much excited. His face was flushed till it looked like a painted 
warrior, and his eyes, usually mild in expression, glared like those 
of a panther about to spring upon its prey. He looked as little 
like the Forrest of the mess-table as the storm of December re- 
sembles the quiet of June." 

From the commencement of the affair Major Kelley had been 
alarmed for the safety of the command. It seemed to him that 
his senior, in the excitement of the moment and in the eagerness 
to close with the enemy, had lost his head, and he feared a well- 

32 



BATTLE ROYAL OF THE GALLANT STARNES 

concerted movement from the Federal side would result in the 
defeat and probably the destruction of the Confederate force. In 
order to be ready to counteract such a manoeuvre, should it occur 
after Forrest and Starnes had rushed pell-mell in the pursuit, he 
held his squadron in compact order and followed on at a gallop. 
When he came in sight of Forrest he saw him in mortal combat 
with Captains Bacon and Davis. Starnes, who had dashed through 
the first lines of Federals, was having a battle royal of his own 
just ahead in the road. Having fired the last shot from his pistol 
as the Union trooper turned and fled down the road, Starnes 
hurled the empty weapon at his back, where it struck and bounded 
off with no other effect than to speed the parting guest. The pur- 
suit and fight, which had now lasted for nearly three miles, was 
called off. The Confederates lost two killed and three privates 
wounded. The Union reports* show one officer (Captain Bacon) 
and eight soldiers killed ; and Major Murray, commander of the 
unfortunate detachment, reports that " forty men are missing." 
The number of wounded must have been considerably more than 
this report would indicate. General T. L. Crittenden (Union), on 
December 30th, reports : " We have five or six men so badly 
wounded that we could not bring them in." The Federals he 
reported as numbering 168 men of Jackson's regiment. Forrest 
does not give the number in his command. Fully 200 Confeder- 
ates were present and took part in the affair. As he had moved 
at a gallop for nearly eight miles before the unsuspecting enemy 
were encountered, it is likely that at least another hundred fell 
out of the column and were coming towards the scene as fast as 
their tired horses could move, but these did not arrive in time to 
take part in the action. In any event, Forrest had demonstrated 
in this his first encounter one secret of his wonderful success in 
war. When asked in later years how he explained the success 
achieved in his many battles, he replied : " I do not know, unless 
it was because I generally got there first with the most men." 

General Crittenden further reports :t "I regret to inform you 
that a command of 168 men under Major Murray, of Jackson's 
regiment, was surprised and pursued by rebel cavalry at Sacra- 
mento. Captains Bacon and Davis and Lieutenant Jouett are 

* Official Records, vol. vii. p. 63. t Ibid. 

^C • 33 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

missing with forty men. I sent Colonel Jackson out with five 
hundred men to gather up the stragglers and wounded. Although 
attacked suddenly, they charged and drove back the rebels, who 
rallied, and a hand-to-hand conflict occurred. We lost eight sol- 
diers and three officers— -Captain A. G. Bacon killed, Captain A. 
N. Davis captured, and Lieutenant John L. Walters missing." 

Brigadier-General Charles Clark (Confederate) in an official re- 
port of this encounter to General A. S. Johnston, speaks of this 
as " Forrest's brilliant and dashing affair at Sacramento. It was 
one of the most brilliant and successful cavalry engagements that 
the present war has witnessed, and gives a favorable omen of 
what that arm of the service will do in the future on a more ex- 
tended scale. For the skill, energy, and courage displayed by 
Colonel Forrest he is entitled to the highest praise, and I take 
great pleasure in calling the attention of the general commanding 
and of the government to his services."* 

On December 30, 1861, Forrest reported that with over three 
hundred men, on December 26th, he moved on a scouting expe- 
dition in the direction of Sacramento. Hearing of the enemy, he 
pushed forward rapidly, and within one mile of the village struck 
their rear guard. " As only the advance guard of my command 
was seen, we came up to their main column. We halted, and 
seeing that they outnumbered me, I fell back a short distance. 
The enemy at once attempted to flank our left and began to 
move towards us, and apparently greatly animated, supposing we 
were retreating. They had moved down over one hundred yards 
and seemed to be forming for a charge, and began to move tow- 
ards us, when the remainder of my men coming on the ground, 
I dismounted a number of them with long-range guns, directed 
a flank movement upon the part of Major Kelley and Colonel 
Starnes upon the right and left, and with the balance of my com- 
mand, mounted, we charged into their ranks. The enemy broke 
in utter confusion, and in spite of the efforts of a few officers 
commenced a disorderly flight at full speed, in which the officers 
soon joined. We followed them closely, getting in an occasional 
shot, until we reached the village, when we began to catch up with 
them, and there commenced a promiscuous sabre slaughter in 

* Official Records, vol. vii. p. 64. 
34 



CHARACTERIZATION BY REV. D. C. KELLEY 

their rear, which was continued for two miles beyond the village, 
leaving their wounded strewn along the route." 

The month of January, 1862, was passed in scouting and other 
active duty, but without any incident of importance. On Febru- 
ary 7th, Lieutenant-Colonel Forrest received orders to report to 
the commander at Fort Donelson, where he arrived four days 
later. 

Of the impression the Confederate leader had already made 
upon the men of his command, the Rev. D. C. Kelley, who was 
with him, writes: " In the short period since its organization, this 
command found that it was his single will, impervious to argu- 
ment, appeal, or threat, which was ever to be the governing im- 
pulse in their movements. Everything necessary to supply their 
wants, to make them comfortable, he was quick to do, save to 
change his plans, to which everything had to bend. New men 
naturally grumbled, but when the work was done all were rec- 
onciled by the pride felt in the achievement." * In after-years 
this scholarly soldier and Christian minister, probably the fairest 
and most competent critic and close personal observer of Forrest, 
wrote: "In his early battles he was so disregardful of the ordi- 
nary rules of tactics, so reckless in personal exposure, that I felt 
sure his career would be short. It seemed certain that whenever 
he should meet a skilful opponent his command would be utterly 
cut to pieces. So fierce did his passion become that he was al- 
most equally dangerous to friend or foe, and, as it seemed to some 
of us, he was too wildly excitable to be capable of judicious com- 
mand. Later we became aware that excitement neither paralyzed 
nor misled his magnificent military genius. What had seemed to 
us the most unreasonable command when given proved, both in 
its result and his after-explanation of the reasons on which he 
acted, consummate generalship. His genius in action rose to 
every emergency ; he always did what the enem.y least expected 
him to do, and when defeated, as others would have counted de- 
feat, he was more fertile in resources, more energetic in attack, 
more resistless in his fiery onset than when the action began. 
While his desperate bravery and frequent charges were charac- 
teristic of his military career, they by no means exhausted his 

* Manuscript notes, Rev. D. C. Kelley. 
35 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

resources. The manoeuvring of his forces in the presence of 
the enemy, his messages to opposing commanders, his match- 
less shrewdness in impressing them with the overwhelming supe- 
riority of his forces, and the necessity for surrender, were equally 
characteristic. The use of his artillery, often thrust forward to 
the skirmish-line, which would have been madness in an ordinary'' 
commander, was vindicated by the splendid results which he won. 
His common-sense led him at an early date to see that the day 
was past when a cavalry charge with sabres could be made effec- 
tive in the presence of infantry." After the battle of Shiloh he 
usually fought his cavalry on foot. The horses were used simply 
as a means of rapid transportation, which enabled him to throw 
his men on the enemy before they dreamed of his proximity. His 
pursuit of Streight, and his six hours of stubborn, unremitting, 
bulldog fighting at Brice's Cross-road, proved that his staying 
qualities were fully equal to the brilliancy of his rapid movements 
and the fierceness of his charges* 



CHAPTER III 

FORT DONELSON 

Grant's Star of Destiny — The First Decisive Battle of the Civil War— General Grant's 
Failures at Belmont and Fort Henry — Despatches and Correspondence between Gen- 
erals Halleck and McClellan in Regard to Deposing Grant from Command — The 
Attack on Fort Henry by the Flotilla under Flag-Officer Foote — Surrender of Tilgh- 
man — Escape of 2610 Confederates of the Garrison — Grant Moves on Fort Donelson 
— His Advance Guard Attacked and Driven Back by Forrest — Forrest Kills a Sharp- 
shooter with a Maynard Rifle at Long Range — Attack on Buckner's and Heiman's 
Lines on the 13th of February, 1862— Repulse of the Federals— Attack by Foote's 
Flotilla on the Confederate Water - Batteries on the 14th — Signal Defeat of the 
Flotilla— Battle of the 15th of February — Grant's Right Wing under McClernand 
Driven from the Field — The Confederates Make no Effort to Escape, and Retire 
Behind Their Breastworks towards the Close of Day — Partial Reinvestment by 
Grant's Lines — Attack on the Confederate Right by Smith's Division, which Capt- 
ures and Holds One Angle of the Confederate Intrenchments — Council of War 
at Midnight — Generals Floyd and Buckner Decide to Surrender — Protest by 
General Pillow and Lieutenant-Colonel Forrest — Forrest, Refusing to Surrender, 
Leads His Command Out Without Seeing a Federal Soldier — Generals Floyd and 
Pillow, with One Brigade, Escape by Boat — A Number of Infantry Walk Out of 
Fort Donelson and Escape Without Interference — Demonstration of the Fact that 
the Surrender at Fort Donelson was Unnecessary — A Blunder probably Fatal to the 
Success of the Confederacy. 

THE struggle at Fort Donelson was the first decisive battle of 
the Civil War. In many respects it proved to be the most 
important engagement between the contending armies of the 
North and the South. There were to follow many more desperate 
encounters, where greater numbers were engaged, where the slaugh- 
ter was more fearful, where day after day the murderous storm swept 
on with unabating fury, where the flash of musketry was more 
vivid and the thunder of artillery louder and caught more readily 
the eye and ear of the world at large. But in all probability the 
careful historian will yet decide that in shaping events, which step 
by step wrought the downfall of the Southern coalition. Fort 
Donelson stands pre-eminent. It was a blow which staggered the 
Confederacy, and from which it is safe to say it never wholly re- 
covered. A disaster which led into captivity thousands of its 

37 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

best and bravest men, and thus early in the combat weakened the 
morale of one of its armies, in teaching it the bitter lesson of de- 
feat. Above all, this monumental blunder made possible the 
career of a man who from that day until the end, with untiring 
energy and relentless hand, with giant blows struck down the 
Southern Cross. Out of the clouds of smoke and mist that settled 
down upon that fatal field where friend and foe alike lay frozen 
and stiff with the agony of death in every feature, there rose to 
the horizon one star of destiny. Surely at its birth the evil 
genius of the Confederacy presided, and as it shone above those 
snow-clad hills of Tennessee, even had one prophet of history lived 
he might have seen against the screen of night, cast in fateful char- 
acters, the ominous words of Shiloh, Corinth, Vicksburg, Mission- 
ary Ridge, the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, and then 
Petersburg, the death-bed of the Lost Cause, and Appomattox its 
grave. 

Fort Donelson may, without successful contradiction, be as- 
serted as the turning-point in the career of Ulysses S. Grant, a man 
of tremendous courage and tenacity, and possessing a genius for 
war of a high order, and yet achieving by fortuitous circumstance 
in the dawn of his career the success which made this great career 
possible. Driven from the field at Belmont,* on which he had first 
been victor, and forced, in order to escape capture, to take refuge 
on his transports, himself the last man to quit the shore, riding his 
wounded horse with dare-devil recklessness down the precipitous 
bank and along a single gang-plank to the steamer's deck, he there 
even in defeat gave evidence of that bull-dog tenacity which was 
yet to stand him in good need on more successful scenes. Signal- 
ly failing in his next essay at Fort Henry, on February 6th, to 
throw his investing troops in overwhelming numbers around the 
garrison, in co-operation with the attack by Foote's flotilla, his 
soldiers by inexcusable miscalculation were four miles distant when 
the engagement opened. They did not reach the fort until it had 
been knocked to pieces and surrendered to Foote after a terrific 
cannonading of one hour and fifteen minutes. The garrison of 

* So hurried was General Grant's retreat from Belmont that one of his 
regiments, the Twenty -seventh Illinois, failing to reach the transports in 
time, was left to the mercy of the Confederates. These, however, not pursu- 
ing with sufficient rapidity and spirit, permitted these men to escape. 

38 



I 



THE LESSON OF FORT DONELSON 

2610 men were by this blunder permitted to escape and march 
without hinderance to Fort Donelson, with a loss in sick, wounded, 
and captured of less than two hundred men. 

At Fort Donelson, on the 15th of February, absent from his com- 
mand and miles away on board a steamer of the Cumberland flo- 
tilla when his army was being knocked to pieces by the desperate 
onslaught of Pillow, Johnson, Buckner, and Forrest, arriving in the 
very crisis of defeat, when crowds of men in blue with anxious faces 
and empty cartridge-boxes were running to the rear, and the cry, 
"All's lost I Save yourselves!"* was sweeping down the lines, 
and panic was in the air, just at this moment a halt was called 
along the Southern lines, and the troops thus far victorious were 
ordered back into the trenches, from which a few hours earlier 
they had sallied and fought with unequalled valor and persistence 
for this opening of escape. Had this army marched out then and 
there, as it might have done, or had it later in the night escaped, 
as we now know and shall prove it could have done, Shiloh and 
Vicksburg would not be named on the pages of history, nor that 
majestic and matchless mausoleum now lift its marble dome from 
the banks of the Hudson in the heart of the metropolis of the 
Western World. 

Had Nathan Bedford Forrest been in command of that gallant 
army of Southerners, no one who has read aright the story of his 
remarkable career can believe for a moment that he would have 
ever permitted a surrender. He might have died, and many more 
might have died than fell there then, but there would have been 
no laying down of arms. When the final disaster came and the 
commanding-general notified him of the capitulation, his answer 
was, " I cannot and will not surrender my command or myself." 

Thirteen thousand men, the living and unwounded remnant of 
that heroic army, tried in the balance and not found wanting, un- 
der the leadership of this undaunted and unconquerable soldier 
would have marched out of Fort Donelson to have swelled the 
ranks of Albert Sidney Johnston. Who can question the asser- 
tion that these additional veterans at Shiloh would have crushed 
the army which triumphed there ? With defeat and flight at Bel- 

* General Lew. Wallace, Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, vol. i. 
p. 420. 

39 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

mont, and the escape of the garrison at Fort Henry, had the Con- 
federate troops at Fort Donelson also escaped can it be doubted 
that General Grant would have fallen short of that great career 
which was made possible by the capitulation of Generals Floyd 
and Buckner?* 

* It may not be generally known that at this period Major-General H. W. 
Halleck, commander-in-chief of the department in which General Grant 
was operating, discussed the propriety of removing him from command ; 
and that General George B. McClellan, general-in-chief of the armies of 
the United States, was prepared to approve the action of Halleck. Had it 
not been for the irretrievable blunder of permitting the surrender of the 
army at Fort Donelson, the escape of this garrison added to the failure at 
Belmont and Fort Henry would have deprived Grant of the great popularity 
which this victory gave him, and would have encouraged Halleck and Mc- 
Clellan to depose him from command. 

The following despatches from the Official Records corroborate this state- 
ment : 

"St. Louis, February, 1862. 

" To Brigadier-General Buell, Louisville, Kentucky, — Without the 
aid of Hunter, I should have failed before Fort Donelson. Honor to him. 
We came within an ace of being defeated. If the fragments which I sent 
down had not reached there on Saturday, we should have gone in. A re- 
treat at one time seemed almost inevitable. 

" H. W. Halleck." 

" Headquarters, St. Louis, February 19, 1862. 
"Major-General H. W. Halleck to Major-General McClellan, 
— Brigadier-General Charles F. Smith, by his coolness and bravery at Fort 
Donelson, when the battle was against us, turned the tide and carried the 
enemy's outworks. Make him a major-general. You can't get a better one. 
Honor him for his victory and the whole world will applaud." 

" St. Louis, March 3, 1862. 
"Major-General H. W. Halleck to Major-General George B. 
McClellan, Washington, D. C, — I have no communication from Grant 
for more than a week. He left his command without my authority and 
went to Nashville. His army seems to be as much demoralized by the vic- 
tory of Fort Donelson as was that of the Potomac by the defeat of Bull Run. 
It is hard to censure a successful general immediately after a victory, but I 
think he richly deserves it. I can get no returns— no information of any 
kind. Satisfied with his victory, he sits down and enjoys it without any 
regard to the future. I am worn out and tired with this neglect and ineffi- 
ciency. C. F. Smith is almost the only officer equal to the emergency." — Offi- 
cial Records, vol. vii. pp. 632, 637, 679. 

" Washington, March 3, 1862, 6 p.m. 
"Major-General H. W. Halleck, St. Louis,— Your despatch of last 
evening received. The future success of our cause demands that proceed- 

40 



CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON REVIEWED 

The campaign which ended in the surrender of the greater por- 
tion of the Confederate troops at Fort Donelson on the Cum- 
berland River, on Sunday, the i6th of February, 1862, may prop- 
erly be said to have begun with the bombardment and capture 

ings such as Grant's should at once be checked. Generals must observe 
discipline as well as private soldiers. Do not hesitate to arrest him at once 
if the good of the service requires it, and place C. F. Smith in command. 
You are at liberty to regard this as a positive order if it will smooth your way. 
" I appreciate the difficulties you have to encounter, and will be glad to 
relieve you from trouble as far as possible. 

"George B. McClellan, 
" Major-General, Commanding U. S. Army." 
Approved. 

" St. Louis, March \th. 
"To Major-General George B. McClellan. Washington,— A rumor 
has just reached me that, since the taking of Fort Donelson, General Grant 
has resumed his former bad habits. If so, it will account for his neglect 
of my often repeated orders. I do not deem it advisable to arrest him at 
present, but have placed General Smith in command of the expedition up 
the Tennessee. I think Smith will restore order and discipline. 

" H. W. Halleck." 

"Adjutant-General's Office, Washington, March 10, 1862. 

"Major-General H. W. Halleck. U. S. A., Commanding Department 
of the Mississippi. St. Louis, Missouri, — It has been reported that soon after 
the battle of Fort Donelson Brigadier -General Grant left his command 
without leave. By direction of the President, the Secretary of War de- 
sires you to ascertain and report whether General Grant left his command at 
any time without proper authority, and, if so, how long; whether he has 
made to you proper reports and returns of his force ; whether he has com- 
mitted any acts which were unauthorized or not in accordance with military 
subordination or propriety, and, if so, what ? 

" L. Thomas, Adjutant-General." 

Official Records, vol. ii. pp. 680. 682. 683. 

On March 4th. General Grant received the following despatch from Gen- 
eral H. W. Halleck : 

"Major-General U. S. Grant, Fort Henry,— You will place Major- 
General C. F. Smith in command of the expedition, and remain yourself at 
Fort Henry. Why do you not obey my orders, to report the strength and 
position of your men ? 

" Your going to Nashville without authority, and when your presence with 
your troops was of the utmost importance, was a matter of very serious com- 
plaint at Washington, so much so that I was advised to arrest you on your 
return." 

General Grant, in his Memoirs, says that " less than two weeks after the 

41 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

of Fort Henry, on the Tennessee River, by General Ulysses S. 
Grant, ten days earlier. Of the combined expedition by land and 
water against this stronghold. General Grant was in command. 
Landing his troops some few miles below the fort, they marched 
to invest it from the land side, in order to shut in and capture 
the garrison, which numbered 2610 men.* By a blunder which 
was inexcusable, and which in all probability would have ended 
the promotion of the commanding officer had it not been lost 
in the glory of the capture of the Confederate army at Donelson, 
the troops failed to get into position and the garrison escaped. 
The loss of these troops to the Confederates would have made 
a considerable difference in the casualties which the Federal army 
suffered at Fort Donelson. 

The flotilla under Flag-Officer Foote opened the fight at close 

victory at Donelson the two leading generals in the army were in corre- 
spondence as to what disposal should be made of me, and in less than three 
weeks I was virtually in arrest and without a command." And later (p. 370): 
" I was ignored (by Halleck) as much as if I had been at the most distant 
point of territory within my jurisdiction. Although in command of all the 
troops engaged at Shiloh, I was not permitted to see one of the reports of 
General Buell or his subordinates in that battle." 

" General Halleck evidently deemed General C. F. Smith a much better 
officer for the command of all the forces in the military district than I was. 
It is probable that the general opinion was that Smith's long services in the 
army and distinguished deeds rendered him the more proper person for such 
command. Indeed, I was rather inclined to this opinion myself at that 
time, and would have served as faithfully under General Smith as he had 
done under me." 

Later on. General Grant, as shown in his Memoirs, explained satisfac- 
torily the various criticisms of his chief (vol. i. pp. 326, 328), but those 
would not have sufficed to have saved him had not the Northern people at 
large upheld him by reason of the capture of the army at Fort Donelson. 
This unnecessary surrender made General Grant's great career possible. It 
made Shiloh a disaster when the Confederates should have crushed and 
captured the national army. If any one doubts this, let him read the Official 
Records, especially the report by General D. C. Buell, the second in command 
there. 

In vol. xxxii. part iii. p. 49, of the Official Records, in a confidential letter 
written by General Sherman to Grant, occurs the following : " Until you had 
won Donelson, I must confess I was almost cowed, . . . but that admitted 
the ray of light which I have followed since." 

* Official Records, vol. vii. p. 140. 

42 



AT FORT DONELSON 

range, firing the first guns at 12.30 P.M., and in one hour and 
fifteen minutes the fort, which was defended in most heroic fash- 
ion by General Lloyd Tilghman, was practically battered to the 
ground, three-fourths of its available guns dismounted or rendered 
useless, and nearly all of the artillerists placed hors dc combat. 

General Grant, in his Memoirs,* says: "Tilghman was captured 
with his staff and ninety men ;" and adds, " the delay [in investing 
the fort] made no difference in the results." 

This small number the advance of the Federal cavalry cut off 
from escape, and so close was Grant's infantry that the retreating 
Confederates came in contact with the advance regiments of the 
Union troops, who immediately gave pursuit, capturing about 
forty additional prisoners. The remainder escaped to give him 
battle within the next few days at Fort Donelson.f Although 
this occurrence took place on the 6th of February, it was not ' 
until the 12th that Grant put his army in motion for Donelson. 
On the 6th he had wired his chief, Major-General Halleck : " I 
shall take and destroy Fort Donelson on the 8th and return to 
Fort Henry with the forces employed." Evidently he did not 
anticipate the character of the resistance that awaited him. 

On the 1 2th, dividing his army into three divisions, of which 
the first two, numbering 15,000 men. Grant marched out on the 
two roads which run nearly parallel from Fort Henry to Fort 
Donelson, eleven miles distant ; the third was loaded on trans- 
ports and started for the same destination by water, some two 
hundred miles down the Tennessee and up the Ohio and Cum- 
beriand. When the advance guard of the Federal army reached 
within about three miles of Fort Donelson, their approach was 
for the first time contested by the cavalry of Forrest. This 
officer, acting under orders from Brigadier - General Clark, had 
marched with his battalion to Fort Donelson, arriving on the nth 
of February. Scarcely had he reported at headquarters when he 
was ordered by General Pillow (then in command) to make a recon- 
naissance with three hundred of his troopers in the direction of 

* Mejnoirs of U. S. Grant, vol. i. p. 292. 

t It was not until after ten o'clock of that morning that General Tilghman 
retired all of his troops excepting ninety men to a position beyond the 
breastworks on the land side of Fort Henry." -Official Records, vol. vii. 
p. 140. 

43 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

Fort Henry. About three miles out from Donelson he came in 
sight of a detachment of Federal cavalry which he attacked with 
the same impetuosity that had carried everything before it in his 
first fight at Sacramento. The Union troopers were driven back 
in the direction of Fort Henry, losing two or three prisoners. 
Coming upon their infantry column, Forrest desisted from farther 
pursuit, returned and reported to his commander. 

On the following morning, Wednesday, the I2th, he was directed 
to advance over the same route, taking his own command and in 
addition three companies of Kentucky cavalry under Captains 
Williams, Wilcox, and Hewey, and a battalion of mounted Ten- 
nesseeans under Lieutenant-Colonel Gantt, a cavalry force present 
for duty of about thirteen hundred men, over which he was placed 
in command as acting brigadier. 

As soon as Forrest came in sight of the advance guard of the 
Federal army he dismounted a portion of his command, took 
advantage of a ridge which was favorably situated, and from this 
position the Federal advance was checked. As additional troops 
from the Union column came up, an effort was made to turn the 
left of the Confederate line. As their cavalry made this essay 
a squadron of 200 Confederates under the gallant '' fighting 
preacher," Major D. C. Kelley, dashed into them for close-quarter 
work, and the Federal troopers hastily retired upon the infantry. 
As these advanced, Forrest fell back, skirmishing steadily, until he 
was within the intrenchments about Dover, which by dark were 
well invested by the army of Grant. 

General Buckner, in his official report, speaking of the thorough- 
ness of the work done by Forrest, says : " During the morning of 
the 1 2th Forrest reported the enemy advancing in force with a 
view of enveloping our line of defence, and for a time he was en- 
gaged with his usual gallantry in heavy skirmishing with them, 
at one time driving one of their battalions back upon their ar- 
tillery."* 

Early in the morning of the 13th the skirmishing was resumed, 
the infantry of both sides taking part, the Confederates behind 
their intrenchments, the Federals being the aggressors. Mean- 
while the commander of cavalry was not idle. Everywhere along 

* Official Records, vol. vii. p. 330. 

44 



AT FORT DONELSON 

the lines during the day he was attending closely to the duties of 
observation which devolved upon him. It was from the skirmish- 
line that the movements of the enemy could best be observed, and 
throughout his military career he relied upon his unaided eyes 
rather than upon field-glasses, which he very rarely employed. 

Major J. P. Strange records the fact that while thus engaged, 
noticing one of Birge's sharp-shooters well up in a tree and rather 
recklessly exposing himself, Forrest took a Maynard rifle from 
one of his men, and with the clear eye and steady aim of the 
backwoodsman fired at the unfortunate soldier, who tumbled 
headlong to the ground. 

At 10 A.M. the Federals made a vigorous attack upon a por- 
tion of Buckner's and Heiman's lines, but were repulsed.* An 
hour later in the day quite a furious assault was made upon a 
Confederate battery by another portion of McClernand's division. 
This attack, made with great yet ill-advised gallantry and persist- 
ence, was repulsed with heavy loss to the assailants, while the 
Confederates, being protected by their intrenchments, suffered 
comparatively little. 

Grant says : f " This general, without orders or authority, under- 
took to capture a battery of the enemy which was annoying his 
men. Of course the assault was a failure, and the loss on our 
side was great for the number of men engaged." No Confederate 
troops were engaged in these assaults on the 13th excepting Buck- 
ner's command, and these only for about two hours. 

As dark came on, the weather, which had been mild for the pre- 
ceding days, suddenly became bitter cold, with alternating snow 
and sleet throughout the night, which continued for the next 
forty -eight hours. Having waited for reinforcements to arrive 
before the attack, which it was intended should be made by the 
gunboats under Flag-Officer Foote, and everything being now in 
readiness. Grant ordered the grand assault by the flotilla upon 
the water -batteries of the Confederates. Beginning at three 
o'clock on the afternoon of the 14th of February, it lasted with 
unabated fury for an hour and a half. It was probably one of 
the most spirited affairs of its kind which occurred during the 

* Official Records, vol. vii. p. 330. 
t Memoirs of U. S. Grant, vol. i. p. 300, 
45 



■ 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 
war and the result was entirely different from that which had 
^ee; anticipated by Grant and Foote, who had learned to beheve 
from the reduction of Fort Henry that Donelson would as eas.ly 
Tcaptive to the Federal flotilla. The water-battenes silenced| 
and the river above in possession of the fleet, the fate of the gar- 
rison was sealed. Although the gunboats steamed up to close 
range and sent a furious storm of Well-directed shot and shell, 
which ploughed through the Confederate earthworks and ex- 
ploded in and around the narrow enclosure, dismountmg or ren- 
dering unavailable all but one of the long-range guns of the fort 
the boats were beaten off and so badly crippled that they drifted 
unmanageable from the scene, and never again became factors in 
the siege. The exultation of the Confederates over this result 
was as great as the victory was unexpected. W 

Captain Dixon, the commander of the water-batteries, had 
been killed while bravely on duty. After his fall, Captain 
Reuben R. Ross, of the Maury (Tennessee) Artillery, took 
personal charge of the only long-range rifled gun in the fort, 
and this gun, served with wonderful accuracy, without doubt 
saved the fort and entitled him to the honor of being the 
hero of the day. At a distance of nearly two miles, such was 
the precision of the Confederate artillerists that "a 128-pounder 
struck our anchor, another cut away our boat -davits, another 
ripped up the iron plating, another struck the pilot-house, and 
still they came harder and faster, taking flag-staff and smoke- 
stacks, and tearing off the side-armor as lightning tears the bark 
from a tree." * Captain Ross reports : " One of the balls refused 
to go down, stopping half-way ; our rammer was not sufficient ; 
ten men left the battery, went out in front, cut a log of wood of 
size to fit, stood on the ramparts and coolly drove the shot home. 
They then deliberately scrubbed out the bore with warm water, 
and with the rifler cleaned the caked powder out of each of the 
six grooves, and all this while the air was full of shot and shell 
from the whole fleet of the enemy." Well might General Lew. 
Wallace write : " The Confederates had behaved with astonishing 
valor." 

There was probably no more interested witness of this thrilling 

* Report of the Rear-Admiral of the U. S. gunboat Carondelet. 

46 




LIEUTENANT-COLONEL FORREST AND MAJOR U. C. KELLEY AT THE 
BOMBARDMENT OF FORT DONELSON BY FOOTE's FLOTILLA 



AT FORT DONELSON 

scene than Forrest, who from that day on showed little respect 
for the Union gunboats. Riding along a small depression (now 
known as Forrest's Ravine) which concealed his person until it 
brought him out at a point where the fleet and battery were in 
plain view, he sat, by no means a calm spectator of the mighty 
duel. While it was at its height, the shells of the enemy explod- 
ing almost without cessation in and about the fort, and the issue 
yet in the balance, Rev. D. C. Kelley says, as he rode up to For- 
rest, who gave every indication of the most intense excitement, 
he shouted in earnest tones to his friend, " Parson ! for God's 
sake, pray ; nothing but God Almighty can save that fort !" 

A few days later, in his official report,* Lieutenant-Colonel For- 
rest says: "No one could do justice in description to the attack 
or the defence. More determination could not have been ex- 
hibited by the attacking party, while more coolness and bravery 
never were manifested than were seen in our artillerists. Never 
were men more jubilant than when victory crowned the steady 
bravery of our little force." 

This affair seemed to have satisfied the warlike propensities of 
both armies for the day. General Grant had received reinforce- 
ments, which, as he states, f had brought his investing army to a 
total of 27,000 troops on the ground and ready for action, except- 
ing a small contingent (probably the cavalry) used to guard the 
road four or five miles to his left and rear, over which all " our 
supplies had to be drawn on wagons." As these roads were im- 
mediately in the rear of the Federal army and covered by their 
gunboats, and as there was not a Confederate soldier in all that 
country excepting those penned up within the rifle-pits at Fort 
Donelson, it may fairly be stated that this entire force of 27,000, 
ready for battle, confronted the 14,800 Confederates within the 
lines on the night of the 14th and on the 15th of February. 

Despite the exultation of the Southern troops over the bloody 
repulse of McClernand on the 13th, and the confidence which the 
signal defeat of the flotilla on the following day had inspired in 
the rank and file of the army, the general in command and his im- 
mediate advisers were ill at ease. They were aware of the arrival 

* Official Records, vol. vii. p. 384. 
t Memoirs of U. S. Grant, vol. i. p. 315. 
47 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

on the 14th of heavy reinforcements for Grant, although, as usual 
under such circumstances, they greatly overestimated the num- 
ber of the enemy. General Floyd said they were 50,000 strong, 
and that the Confederate army of 13,000 men were hopelessly 
unable to cope with their opponents. A council of war was 
called, and it was decided to attack the right wing and centre of 
the Union line early on the following morning, beat this back, and 
if possible destroy it, and thus open the way of escape in the di- 
rection of Nashville. Unfortunately the plan of escape was not 
thoroughly understood by all, nor the details for its execution 
arranged. 

The right wing of the Federal forces was commanded by Gen- 
eral J. A. McClernand, the centre by General Lew. Wallace, the 
left by General C. F. Smith — in all, including the reserves as given 
by Grant, 27,000 strong. In order to mass a sufficient number of 
troops to make the attack on McClernand successful, Buckner's 
command was quietly, and before the dawn of day on the morn- 
ing of Saturday the 15th, withdrawn from the intrenchments they 
had previously occupied on the extreme Confederate right, their 
places being taken by a single regiment of 450 effectives, the Thirti- 
eth Tennessee, under Colonel Head. The brigades of Pillow, Floyd, 
and Johnson, and 1300 cavalry under Forrest, were to move out 
from Dover while it was yet dark, and at daylight attack McCler- 
nand. General John B. Floyd was in command over all, while 
the attacking column was led by the gallant soldier General 
Gideon J. Pillow. The understanding, as expressed in the official 
reports, was that Generals Pillow and Johnson and Lieutenant- 
Colonel Forrest should attack vigorously on the Confederate left, 
and that as soon as they were well engaged, in order to prevent 
any reinforcements from the Federal centre and right under Wal- 
lace and Smith, General S. B. Buckner should move out and hold 
Wallace engaged until the proper moment, when a grand advance 
of the whole line should be made and the defeat of McClernand 
assured. 

Had General Grant known before daylight on the morning of 
the 15th, as he was mounting his horse to ride several miles* 

* The distance from Flag-Officer Foote's flag-boat to McClernand's posi- 
tion was eight miles. (See Memoirs of U. S. Grant?) 



AT FORT DONELSON 

away down the Cumberland to hold a conference with Flag- 
Officer Foote on one of his gunboats, the weakness of the Confed- 
erate right wing, that in fact only 450 men stood between Smith's 
division and the possession of Buckner's intrenchments, the prob- 
abilities are that the battle of Fort Donelson would have ended 
with the capture of the garrison before the sun was an hour above 
the eastern horizon. With 8000 infantry, General C. F. Smith, 
one of the ablest of Grant's lieutenants, was lying within short 
gun-shot range of these intrenchments, at that time practically 
deserted, and could have captured the entire works of the Con- 
federate right wing within thirty minutes. This accomplished. 
Fort Donelson was lost, and the Confederate army, at that time 
completely invested by twice their number, must have laid down 
their arms then and there. But the rumble of artillery, the tattoo 
of horses' hoofs, and the tramp of men over the frozen, snowy 
ground were unheard. The Union army was asleep, and their out- 
post pickets, instead of being keenly on the watch, were shelter- 
ing themselves from the fierce blasts of the winter's night. Their 
commander, famous and great in after-years, had not the remotest 
idea of being attacked. He was in fact riding away, not to return 
until two 'clock, and never to the Southerners was moment more 
propitious. 

At four o'clock on Saturday morning, the 15th of February, the 
Confederates were in motion. Forrest was in his glory, for it was 
he and his troops who led the advance of Pillow's attacking col- 
umn. Before the day then breaking was to close that gallant 
band of 1300 horsemen were destined to write their names im- 
perishably in history, their chieftain to win his place among the 
immortals. 

Soldier by nature, from earliest boyhood at home on horseback, 
with firm, erect, and easy seat he rode at the head of the column, 
an ideal of the beau sabreur. From beneath the wide and slightly 
upturned brim of the soft felt-hat, which bore no tawdry plumes, 
the large, deep-set blue eyes were peering with more than usual 
alertness. The look of kindliness which came in moments of re- 
pose or gentler mood was gone, and something hard and almost 
savage had replaced it. The broad, high forehead, the shaggy 
brows, prominent cheek-bones, and bold, assertive nose told not 
only the story of his Gaelic origin, but the bull-dog tenacity of 

D 49 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

the man. About the ears and neck heavy half-curling tufts o' 
deep black hair hung so stiff and stubborn that they were scarcely 
swayed by the strong, cold wind which swept the snow-flakes in 
miniature clouds from the tree-tops and sent them scurrying to 
the ground. The dark moustache, and heavy, short chin-beard 
were gray with frozen moisture of the expired air. The massive, 
firm-set jaw told of the strength of will which mastered all ; the 
compressed lip and deep flush of the face bespoke the bloody 
business of the hour.* Six feet and two inches in stature, broad- 
shouldered and of athletic frame, well might one say there was 

in him 

" A combination, and a form, indeed, 

Where every god did seem to set his seal. 
To give the world assurance of a man." 

A plain caped overcoat of heavy gray, close-buttoned to the 
throat, reached amply beyond the knees. Above the waist, and 
buckled on the outside for quick and ready use, there was a broad, 
black, belt in which two " navy sixes " showed, and from which 
hung that famous sabre, heavy and long, and, against all military 
rules, ground to a razor-edge and swinging from the right side of 
the cavalier. No regulation sabre, nor school-drilled swordsman, 
this left-handed scion of the American pioneer, but in all our war 
there was none other that did such bloody work.f To his crude 

* Lieutenant-Colonel D. C. Kelley, who was intimately associated with 
Forrest, says that in the excitement of battle his commander became so 
transformed that it was difficult to believe him the same individual. Around 
the fireside of his home or at the mess-table in camp he was kind, gentle, 
and considerate of all. His voice was soft and low in pitch, the words 
spoken slowly and deliberately. The expression of the face and the look 
from the large grayish-blue eyes were indicative of the generous and sympa- 
thetic nature which was his in times of calm and peace. When the storm 
broke, this picture vanished. The man became an intellectual fighting- 
machine, seemingly intent on expending the great supply of pent-up energy 
in the destruction of the foe. The color of his face, which ordinarily was 
olive or sallow, became flushed and red, not unlike that of a painted Indian 
warrior ; the eyes flashed with a look that suggested no mercy for any one 
who showed a disinclination to do promptly that which was bid. 

t General Forrest was by nature left-handed, and although he cultivated 
his right upper extremity so thoroughly that he became ambidextrous, he 
used the pistol and sabre in the left— the hand of preference. 

SO 




FORREST AT THE HEAD OF THE CONFEDERATE CAVALRY MARCHING TO ATTACK 
THE FEDERAL RIGHT 



AT FORT DONELSON 

and earnest mind " war means fighting, and fighting means kill- 
ing." * He could cut or thrust deeper with a sharp than with a 
dull sword, and if in the melee he should happen to hit one of 
his own it was all intended for the good of the cause. He spoke 
not much, but when his thoughts were fashioned into words they 
came like pistol-shots — short, quick, sharp, and sped right to the 
spot. Who heard them had no thought of answering back, no 
dream of questioning, no argument, and, above all, no flickering. 
To his subordinates his order was, " Shoot any man who won't 
fight !" and he set the example. They had hot work in hand — 
must fight, must win — and out they rode for the fray. 

It came full soon, for at six o'clock the guns began to crackle at 
the front. McClernand says in his official report if "At early 
dawn the enemy were discovered rapidly moving in large masses 
on my extreme right. The battle opened at six." It was no 
surprise to this vigilant officer, who was in line of battle before 
the attack began. Learning a lesson of caution on the 13th, he 
had thrown up earthworks for the protection of his batteries.:|: 
The overture of skirmishers was of brief duration. The South- 
erners, many of whom had only shot-guns or squirrel rifles, rushed 
in for close work in order to make their weapons effective, and 
the fighting was at once severe and deadly. They pressed up to 
the Federal Hnes, but were met with stubborn resistance. The 
hardy men of the West were made of game material, and it was 
give and take with their brothers from over the border. With 
little advantage on either side, but with terrific carnage, the con- 
flict raged for two hours. Then the Southerners began to gain 
and McClernand cried out for help. He was getting the worst of 
it, and sent hurriedly to Grant for troops, but Grant was not upon 
the field. He did not even know the battle was on.§ The cry 
was unheeded and no help came. Oglesby's Illinois Brigade, the 
foremost in the Union line, was knocked to pieces, losing 836 men 
in this short cyclone of destruction. 

Ever watchful for a place at which to strike from his position 
on the extreme Confederate left, Forrest had worked his way well 
around the Federal right flank and in their rear. His quick eye 

* One of Forrest's maxims. t Official Records, vol. vii. p. 175. 

X Ibid. § Memoirs of U. S. Grant. 

SI 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

caught the first break in Oglesby's ranks, and shouting " Charge !" 
at the head of his men he rode into the wavering yet gallant West- 
erners. The pressure from the front and the rush of the horsemen 
on flank and rear were more than they could stand. Holding 
their empty cartridge-boxes up to tell why they yielded, they 
broke and fled the field. Panic was in the air, and to the mind of 
Forrest the crisis of the battle had come. Galloping at full speed 
to General Bushrod Johnson, he pleaded with this ofificer to order 
an advance all along the line, but the West - Pointer would not 
presume. General Pillow was over on the right, intent on urging 
Buckner to move out and attack, and the order for whi.ch Forrest 
was praying was not given. Observing a battery of the enemy 
comparatively unprotected, the lieutenant-colonel of cavalry, this 
time not asking for orders, put himself at the head of his com- 
mand and rode the gunners down before they could escape. The 
battery of six pieces was his. For the first time in the war he 
was able to show what cavalry could do. General Pillow, in his 
ofificial report, says : " I found the command of General Buckner 
massed behind the ridge within the works, taking shelter from the 
enemy's artillery on the Wynn's Ferry road, having been forced 
to retire, as I learned from him. Our force was still slowly ad- 
vancing, driving the enemy towards the battery, and I directed 
General Buckner immediately to move his command towards the 
rear of the battery, turning its left, keeping in the hollow, and to 
attack and carry it. Before the movement was executed, my force, 
forming the attacking party on the right, with Colonel Forrest's 
regiment of cavalry, had reached the position of the battery. 
Colonel Forrest's cavalry gallantly charged a large body of in- 
fantry supporting the battery, driving it, and taking six pieces of 
artillery — four brass pieces and two twenty -four -pounder iron 
pieces." Here fell a number of his men. His horse was shot, 
and that of his brother, Lieutenant Jeffrey Forrest, was killed, 
and in falling badly crushed his rider. 

The lieutenant-colonel of cavalry did not rest upon this feat, 
which won for him and his men the high commendation of his 
chief. Leaving the guns to be taken from the field by others, 
and under orders from General Pillow to leave Gantt's battalion to 
guard the left, he immediately moved his own regiment towards 
Buckner's position at the Confederate centre. As General Buck- 

52 



> i... - 




i 



AT FORT DONE L SON 

ner was advancing to the attack, General Pillow pointed out to 
Forrest two guns of the enemy which were doing considerable 
damage and greatly annoying the Confederate advance, and said, 
" They must be silenced ; Forrest must do it." Leading the 
squadron in person, he asked General Pillow to give him the sup- 
port of the nearest infantry. Roger Hanson's " Orphans," the 
Second Kentucky Regiment, stripped for the fray and moved up 
for the work. With sabres out and bayonets fixed, horse and 
foot plunged through the tangled mass of undergrowth so thick 
that the infantry easily kept pace with the mounted troopers un- 
til reaching the edge of a narrow field or clearing. Here Hanson, 
shouting to his men, " Hold your fire until at close quarters !" and 
calling for the cavalry to go with him, rushed into the opening. 
With equal valor the Federals stood their ground. They swept 
the field with bullets, and crowds of Confederates went down. 
Riderless horses scurried from the scene, while the troopers yet 
mounted, yelling like demons, with guns discarded and pistols in 
hand, leaped over their fallen friends and went right on. Like a 
canebrake on fire the Union muskets blazed and crackled right 
in the faces of the Southern men, and then it was hand to hand, 
bravely and briefly. Under the pressure of this desperate on- 
slaught the Federals finally gave way. Forrest's men, charging 
with the infantry, were first on the guns, but the glory was equally 
with the Kentuckians and their peerless leader, who, later on, at 
Murfreesborough slept 

" On Fame's eternal camping-ground." 

Among the gallant dead of the mounted troops in this charge was 
Captain Charles May, of the " Forrest Rangers." 

The commander of the cavalry found himself now on foot. 
Too fair a target, his horse, bleeding fatally from repeated wounds, 
fell beneath him. Securing another mount, he pushed on after 
the retiring Federals. Some distance in front of Buckner's in- 
fantry he halted his men, and with one or two members of his 
troop rode forward to reconnoitre. Pushing through the heavy 
undergrowth, he came suddenly upon a line of infantry and a bat- 
tery, which made their presence known by a volley. Quickly 
turning about to escape, the battery opened upon the group. A 
shell crashed through his horse's body, just behind his rider's leg, 

53 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

and tore the animal to pieces. Disentangling himself, Forrest 
ran on foot to the rear until he came up with his command. 
Here meeting with General Pillow, this officer gave him orders to 
employ his men in collecting the captured artillery and small arms 
and in removing the Confederate wounded from the field. At the 
same time — for it was now about two o'clock in the afternoon — a 
general retrograde movement of the Confederate line in that part 
of the field which had been occupied by General Buckner had 
been ordered by General Pillow, and these troops retired within 
their intrenchments. The left wing was also ordered to retire, and 
did this slowly, being followed only a short distance by Mc- 
Clernand's division, which had been heavily reinforced. The 
Federal line, however, occupied only a portion of the battle-field 
of the morning. The Confederates were busy until dark gather- 
ing up the wounded and the guns and accoutrements scattered 
over the battle-field. 

The official records show that between four thousand and five 
thousand stands of small arms and other military supplies were 
gathered up by the Confederates between the close of the fight- 
ing on the Federal right — about two o'clock — and sundown. 

Colonel Forrest himself, in his official report, made a few days 
after the battle, states distinctly that he was several times over the 
battle-field, from one end to the other, from the close of the fight 
until dark. About the time the retrograde movement of Buckner 
was ordered, and as he was retiring towards the centre and right 
of the Confederate works, General Smith, commanding the Fed- 
eral left wing, under orders from Grant, who had arrived upon the 
field of battle just as the Confederates were being withdrawn within 
their fortifications, made an assault upon the intrenchments which 
were immediately in front of him. The gallant Colonel John W. 
Head, with his 450 men, although assailed by overwhelming num- 
bers, held the position with heroic obstinacy. As soon as the 
firing in this direction was heard, the danger of the situation was 
appreciated by General Buckner, who hurried reinforcements to 
the scene. Unfortunately these did not reach there in time to 
prevent Smith from forcing an entrance into one of the outer 
angles of the Confederate intrenched position, beyond which, how- 
ever, he was unable to advance. Assault after assault was made, 
but Buckner, arriving on the scene with reinforcements, had taken 

54 




i!Ki(;.\i>ii:i;-r,i:.M.i<.\i. (Wdkon j. imi.i.ow 
From a daguerreotype taken after tlie Mexican VV; 



AT FORT DONELSON 

command and successfully held his ground until night put an end 
to the combat. 

General Grant says :* " When I left to visit Foote I had no idea 
that there would be any engagement. From the 12th to the 14th 
we had but 15,000 men and no gunboats. Now we had been re- 
inforced by a fleet of six more vessels, a large division of troops 
under General Lew. Wallace, and 2500 from Fort Henry for Smith's 
division. The enemy, however, had taken the initiative. Just as I 
landed [from Foote's flag-ship] I met Captain Hillyer, of my staff', 
white with fear for the safety of the National troops. The enemy, 
he said, had scattered McClernand's division, which was in full re- 
treat. In reaching the point where the disorder had occurred, I 
had to pass the divisions of Smith and Wallace. I saw no excite- 
ment on the portion of the line held by Smith. Wallace was 
nearer the conflict, and had taken part in it. When I came to 
the right, appearances were different. McClernand's division had 
to face the brunt of the attack. His men had stood up gallantly 
until the ammunition in their cartridge-boxes gave out. Then 
the division broke and a portion fled, but most of the men, as they 
were not pursued, only fell back out of range of the fire of the 
enemy. It must have been about this time that Thayer pushed 
his brigade in between the enemy and those of our troops that 
were without ammunition. At all events, the enemy fell back 
within his intrenchments, and was there when I got on the fields \ 

The serious nature of the dilemma in which General Grant 
found himself upon arriving on the field is shown by his despatch 
to Foote : 

"Camp near Fort Donelson, /^^-iJrwary 15, 1862. 

"Andrew H. Foote. Commanding Officer Gunboat Flotilla.— If all the 
gunboats that can will immediately make their appearance to the enemy 
it may secure us a victory. Otherwise all may be defeated. A terrible 
conflict ensued in my absence, which has demoralized a portion of my com- 
mand, and I think the enemy is much more so. If the gunboats do not 
show themselves, it will reassure the enemy and still further demoralize our 
troops, I must order a charge to save appearances. I do not expect the 
gunboats to go into action, but to make appearance and throw a few shells 
at long range. 

" U. S, Grant, 
" Brigadier-General Commanding." 

* Memoirs of U. S. Grant, vol. i. p. 305. f Italics added, 

55 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

It was towards the close of this memorable engagement that a 
young artillerist, just in his twentieth year, a lieutenant in Por- 
ter's battery, attracted the attention of Forrest. This company 
had been so badly cut up that he was the only unwounded of^cer 
left. As Porter was being carried from the field terribly wounded, 
he shouted, " Morton, don't let them have the guns !" This young 
man afterwards became famous as Forrest's chief of artillery, for 
in 1863, when the general was given a special command in the 
Department of Northern Mississippi, at his earnest request Cap- 
tain John W. Morton went with him in command of his battery. 

Having performed the duty which had been imposed upon 
him by General Pillow's last order, Forrest led his command 
within the intrenchments, where they were made as comfortable 
as the conditions would permit, and, weary with the hard work 
of the day, they were soon asleep. 

At midnight a messenger came to awaken the lieutenant-col- 
onel. He was wanted immediately at headquarters. Arriving 
there he saw Generals Floyd, Pillow, and Buckner, and other ofifi- 
cers in consultation. To his amazement they were discussing the 
surrender of the army. The generals said that the enemy had 
received heavy reinforcements since the fight and that they had 
returned to the position they had occupied when attacked that 
morning. Forrest protested that the army was not hemmed in 
and was not whipped. Of the three senior generals, two, Floyd 
and Buckner, thought the situation of the Confederates was hope- 
less. The other, the brave old warrior. Pillow, agreed with For- 
rest that the army was there to fight, not to surrender. These 
two had stood shoulder to shoulder through that bloody day, had 
hammered McClernand with terrific blows, and had beaten him 
back for nearly two miles, and still were full of fight. They knew 
the army was not whipped, and come what might they would not 
give up. Not overgiven to speech, but rather a man of action, 
Forrest stalked out into the night. Arousing two of his most 
trusted men, he sent them out on the road to Clarksville to see if 
it was open. With these two men there went Dr. J. W. Smith, 
a practising physician in Dover then, and at this day (1898) a 
venerable and respected man, living in retirement at his boyhood's 
home on the battle-field. The Clarksville road, the most travelled 
route to and from Dover, crosses Lick Creek about one mile from 

56 



50 —r 




AT FORT DONELSON 

town. The crossing is on the farm which Dr. Smith now owns, 
and upon which he was born and reared. Every bend in this 
stream, every tree on its banks, and every point where it can be 
crossed were as familiar to him then as now. As a boy he had 
waded and swum in it and fished along its banks. They reached 
one of the crossings and forded it. The water just touched the 
saddle-skirts ; the depth was three feet, the width here less than 
one hundred yards. There was not the sight or sound of an 
enemy. The way was open, and Dr. Smith so reported. All 
claims to the contrary disappear before the overwhelming evi- 
dence obtained. They returned and reported to Forrest, and he 
to his superiors. Forrest says: " I returned to my quarters, and 
sent out two men, who, going by the road up the bank of the 
river, returned without seeing any of the enemy — only fires, which 
I believe to be the old camp-fires, and so stated to the general ; 
the wind, being very high, had fanned them into a blaze." 

In conclusion General Floyd said :* " There were but two roads 
of escape. By one they would have to cut through the enemy 
in strong position, besides having to march over the battle-field 
strewn with corpses. If they retired by the lower road they would 
have to wade through water three feet deep, which latter ordeal 
the medical director stated would be death to more than half of 
the command, on account of the severity of the weather and their 
physical prostration." How strange this would have sounded to 
the veterans of 1864, to that lion-hearted, half-famished, and bare- 
foot rear-guard which under Forrest and Walthall, day and night, 
through the ice and snow of December, stood off the victorious 
legions of Thomas and Wilson and saved the remnant of Hood's 
beaten army. How strange it reads now, after these many years! 
General Buckner, too, had weakened, and gave up the fight. 
He said his troops were so exhausted they could not make a 
march.f Their ammunition was nearly expended. There had 
been no regularly issued rations for a number of days. The Con- 
federates were completely invested by a force with four times the 
strength of their own. An attempt to make a sortie would have 
been a virtual " massacre of the troops, more disheartening in its 
effects than a surrender." It is true that the men had fought 

* Official Records, vol. vii. p. 273. f Ibid. p. ^34. 

57 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

for a good part of the daylight of the 15th, but they were not so 
exhausted that they could not have marched away. Many of 
them on foot did march away, waded the eddy backwater of Lick 
Creek, or crossed on foot-logs and escaped, and all could have fol- 
lowed. The fighting, as far as Pillow's division and Forrest's cav- 
alry were concerned, ended at two o'clock, and from that time 
until dark these men were engaged in gathering up arms from the 
field of battle and in retiring within the intrenchments. 

Buckner's division had not been as hard-worked or fought up to 
two o'clock as Pillow's command had, but later in the day were 
heavily engaged with Smith's assailing column. The fight, how- 
ever, ceased at dark, which was between five and six o'clock at 
that season of the year. These troops had from that time until 
midnight to rest and make ready for the effort to escape. By this 
time they would have been fully able to march away, and, as we 
know now, practically all could have made their escape. General 
Buckner claimed in extenuation of the surrender that the ammu- 
nition was expended. A steamboat-load of ammunition was com- 
ing then from Clarksville for that garrison, the telegraph was work- 
ing, and he and General Floyd knew, or should have known, that 
this vessel was coming, and that plenty of ammunition would be 
on the ground in time for distribution. This boat did arrive in 
the night and in time to distribute the ammunition had the fight- 
ing been continued on the i6th. These are facts of official record. 
Had these men started out at twelve o'clock, as they could have 
done under the offer of pilotage on the part of Forrest, they might 
have marched at least six miles by daylight, and have been free and 
beyond pursuit. Forrest pleaded for escape or an effort at it. He 
offered to cover the retreat, and guaranteed that the Federal cavalry 
would not bother the rear of the infantry. He had felt the calibre 
of the enemy's horse in front of Fort Henry, and he knew they did 
not bother him in the battle of Saturday. The records show that 
only one Federal cavalryman was wounded in the battle of the 
15th of February.* 

As to the failure to issue rations, none but the general in com- 
mand was to blame for this. In his official report General Grant 
.says: " The amount of supplies captured here is very large — suffi- 

* Official Records, vol. vii. p. 334. 
S8 



AT FORT DONELSON 

c'ent, probably, for twenty days for all my army. Of rice I don't 
know that we will want any more during the war."* 

General Buckner claimed that he could not hold his position 
after daylight, and in fairness to this ofificer it must be said that 
the position gained by Smith gave the Federal commander a 
great advantage ; but since the Confederate general had main- 
tained his second line from all the vigorous assaults of Smith's 
division on the afternoon of the 15th, it seems clear that, had 
further resistance been determined upon, by strengthening the 
line he had without breastworks so successfully held the enemy 
could have been kept in check for a while on the morning of the 
i6th. General Pillow pleaded for further resistance, either to cut 
a way out if necessary with all the troops that could be gotten 
ready for a march, or to cross over to the opposite bank of the 
river in the boats that were nearing Dover at that hour.f But 
no argument or protest of Pillow or Forrest wrought a change in 
the mind of Floyd or Buckner, The latter in his report of the 
surrender says: "Overton's cavalry, following after Forrest, was 
cut off from retreat by an infantry force of the enemy at the 
point where Forrest had crossed the stream on the river road." 
On the contrary, Overton's company went out with Lieutenant- 
Colonel Forrest and was not captured. Captain Overton, who 
did not accompany his command, and later in the day tried to es- 
cape, was taken prisoner. General Buckner does not state how long 
after Forrest had passed out the troops, if any, which followed 
were captured. In unanswerable proof of the fact that this army 
might have escaped, it is shown that a goodly number of the men 
on foot did escape, and some of them as late as an hour or two 
after the surrender was made. 

Colonel Daniel R. Russell, of the Twentieth Mississippi Regi- 
ment, testified::}: " My son made his escape with Adjutant Cou- 

* Official Records, vol. vii. p. 638. 

t Colonel John McCausland testified that the boats arrived about day- 
light — were loaded one with corn and the other with ammunition and pro- 
visions. Captain Jack Davis testified : " Two boats could have taken the 
men and munitions of war in two hours [across the river]. The enemy did 
not come within gunshot distance of the fort until after the surrtiider. 
Had some five thousand men been kept in the intrenchments we could have 
transferred across the river ten thousand men." 

X Official Records, vol. vii, p. 416. 

59 



• LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

per and Lieutenant Conway after they were ordered to stack 
arms. They waded the slough, which my son says was about 
breast-high to him, and then they marched, without encountering 
the enemy, to the railroad, reaching it at Columbia, Tennessee. 
Williford made his escape after the boat left." These brave and 
determined men were not retarded by water or weather. 

General Gideon J. Pillow reported the sworn testimony of Cap- 
tain Hinson, Dr. Moore, Captain Newberry, and Lieutenant Hol- 
lister, all of whom testify that the enemy had not reinvested our 
position or army on the night of the 15th of February, as was 
then supposed, and never did reinvest, and that the army was sur- 
rendered under a delusion, and that it could have marched out on 
the night of the 15th or morning of the i6th of February without 
any obstacle or opposition.* 

Brigadier-General Bushrod Johnson, who escaped after the sur- 
render, saidrf " It is proper to state that many of the men and offi- 
cers commenced to leave Fort Donelson as soon as they heard of 
the proposed surrender, and hundreds of them have no doubt made 
their way to their homes and to the army. I have not learned 
that a single one who attempted to escape met with any obstacle." 

Captain B. G. Bidwell writes from Weatherford, Texas, in 1899: 
" I escaped from Fort Donelson early Sunday morning by crossing 
the Cumberland River in a skiff with Captain Frank Duffy, of the 
Thirty-fifth Tennessee. When we crossed we could have been seen 
by the Federal troops, but they had not then come into Dover.":}: 

Lieutenant -Colonel Milton A. Haynes says: "On Saturday 
night Captain Bidwell and one private of artillery, Lieutenant 
Burt, and about forty men, and all the horses of Captain Porter's 
light battery and Colonel Forrest's regiment of cavalry, and 
many stragglers from various corps made good their retreat with- 
out meeting any obstruction from the enemy." 

Mr. James H. Chandler,§ now living (1898) at McKenzie, Carroll 
County, Tennessee, testifies under oath that at the time of the 
battle of Fort Donelson, in February, 1862, he was orderly ser- 
geant of Company C, Twenty-seventh Alabama Infantry. That 
on Sunday morning, February i6th, after it was broad daylight, 

* Official Records, vol. vii. p. 325. t Ibid. p. 364. X Ibid. 

§ Testimony in the possession of the author. 

60 



I 



AT FORT DONELSON 

he awakened, and, looking out of his tent, saw a white flag, and 
learned that the place had been surrendered. He says : " I de- 
termined to make an effort to escape capture, and went up the 
river, through the town of Dover, along the backwater to Lick 
Creek, accompanied by two other men of my regiment. I con- 
tinued along the backwater to the edge of a small field, on the 
opposite side of which was a house, where I saw a number of 
persons moving along. In my excited state of mind, supposing 
they were Yankees, I turned to one side ; and a few yards farther 
on met another Confederate, also making his escape. I asked 
him if they were not Yankees, and he replied, no, they were Con- 
federates marching out of Dover. I now found a foot-log across 
the stream, the greater part of the log being under water, and on 
this I made a crossing and escaped without molestation, and with- 
out coming in sight or sound of any Federal soldiers." 

Mr. S. G. Morgan, of Morganton, Itawamba County, Mississippi, 
swears that he was a member of Company E, Fourteenth Mis- 
sissippi Regiment, and was at Fort Donelson when the place was 
surrendered. On the morning of February i6, 1862, when the 
sun was about one hour high, he and James Ellison, a member of 
his company, declined to be surrendered, and proceeded on foot 
out of the town of Dover, along the edge of the overflow and 
bank of Lick River, until they found the water shallow enough to 
wade. They crossed safely in this manner, and at no time were 
any Federal soldiers in sight. While escaping in this way, he 
further states, he came up with James Grady, L. C. English, and 
Bence Tubb, also members of the Fourteenth Mississippi Regi- 
ment, and known to him, who escaped at the same time and in the 
same manner. 

Mr. James Woodard, of Springfield, Tennessee, says : " I was at 
Fort Donelson during the battle of the 15th of February, 1862. 
Early on the morning of the i6th I was informed that a sur- 
render had taken place, and my command was ordered from the 
fort to the town of Dover. Arriving there, I determined to make 
my escape if possible. I went down to the river-landing and en- 
deavored to get on board of one of the steamboats which was 
about starting to ferry some of the men over to the opposite side 
of the river. It was already loaded down with troops when I 
reached the landing. The boat went to the other side, landed 

61 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

there, and came back. As it landed for the second trip, men 
rushed on the boat in such large numbers, and there were so many 
between me and the staging, I saw that it would be impossible 
for me to escape that way. Passing up the bank, I saw a negro 
man dismount from a horse, which he left standing in the road as 
he rushed down to try to get aboard the boat, evidently intent on 
making his escape in this manner. I got on the horse, and started 
out of Dover along the road leading up the river. As I rode out 
along this route, I passed a great number of men on foot who were 
escaping in the same direction. I did not see a single Federal 
soldier on my way out, and had no trouble in getting across the 
backwater, which was not deep where I crossed it. The sun was 
about one hour high as I passed out of the village along the road."* 

In further proof that the reinvestment had not been effected by 
Grant's right wing, the following evidence from two well-known 
residents of Dover, Tennessee, is given. 

Mr. G. W. Bufford swears : " I am seventy-one years of age, was 
born and have lived most of my life in what is known as the 
Bufford place, which was known during the war as Rollins's or 
Bufford's place, where I now live, one mile south of Dover. I 
was living in said town of Dover in February, 1862. My mother 
lived at that time on the said Bufford farm. I knew all the 
ground between the Bufford place and Lick Creek ford, where 
Forrest and his army crossed as they went out of Dover on the 
morning of February i6th. I stayed at said Rollins's or Bufford 
place, where my mother lived, on Saturday night, February 15, 
1862 (after the battle), and went over the territory embraced be- 
tween said town, said ford, and said Bufford place next morning 
after Forrest went out. There were no Federal troops between 
said points Sunday morning early. I went to said ford on Satur- 
day evening before, and there were no Federal soldiers nearer 
said ford than the said Bufford place." f 

Mr. Ed Walter swears : " I am fifty-four years of age, and re- 
sided with my father's family in Dover, Tennessee, in 1862. As a 
matter of safety, the family, I going with them, moved out of town 
to a place on the Dover and Clarksville road, near the ford of 



* Date of affidavit, May 16, 1898 
t Date of affidavit, January 4, i{ 
62 



1 



AT FORT DONELSON 

Lick Creek, where General Forrest and his soldiers crossed on 
the morning of February i6th. I passed over said road from 
Dover to Lick Creek early Sunday morning, Forrest having es- 
caped over said road the previous night. I advised several Con- 
federate soldiers to go out, as the way was open and there were 
no Federals in sight. I saw Confederates crossing Lick Creek, 
and aided some to cross as late as ten o'clock Sunday morning. 
The Federal forces came into Dover by way of Fort Henry road 
and Wynn's Ferry road, which intersects the Dover and Char- 
lotte road one-half mile south of town. In company with my 
brother, now dead, I passed over the territory between the Dover 
and Clarksville road and the Dover and Charlotte road, and I 
know there were no Federal soldiers between said roads." * 

Lieutenant Hunter Nicholson, of General Pillow's staff, who 
was present at the council of war in which the surrender was de- 
termined upon, testified under oath within a few days of the sur- 
render: "The generals were discussing the necessity and prac- 
ticability of marching the forces out of the intrenchments and 
evacuating the place. Major Rice, a resident of Dover, and an 
aide-de-camp of General Pillow, was describing the nature of the 
country and the character of the roads over which the artillery 
would have to pass. He referred to some citizen (I think a doc- 
tor, but do not remember his name) whom he represented as more 
familiar with the roads. During the conversation with Major 
Rice, the gentleman referred to was announced. He gave a de- 
scription of the roads which, from my ignorance of the locality, I 
am unable to repeat. The substance was, however, that though 
exceedingly difficult, it was possible to pass the road with light 
baggage trains." f 

The physician here referred to was Dr. J. W. Smith, now living 
(1898) on his farm about one mile from Dover, and who on Jan- 
uary I, 1897, made the following sworn statement : 

" I am seventy-eight years of age, and have resided in Dover, 
Tennessee, since 1853. My occupation had been practising med- 
icine up to a few years ago, when I retired. I was born and 
reared on a farm one mile from Dover, near the ford of Lick 



* Date of affidavit, February 18, 1898. 
t Rebellion Record, p. 422. 
63 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

Creek, on the Dover and Clarksville road. My father and I have 
owned this farm and this ford, now known as ' Smith's Ford,' for 
over seventy-five years. From my earHest boyhood I have been 
familiar with this road and creek. On the night of the 15th of 
February, 1862, about eleven o'clock, I was requested by my fel- 
low-townsman, J. E. Rice, to go with him to the room of General 
J. B. Floyd. I accompanied him to Floyd, finding him in his 
private quarters, with his aides. As soon as I reached General 
Floyd he placed before me a map of the battle-ground of Fort 
Donelson, which had been drawn by General Buckner. Finding 
that I understood the map and was familiar with the ground, 
roads, and creeks. General Floyd requested me to go out on the 
Clarksville road and investigate and examine the ford of Lick 
Creek. He requested me specially to ascertain the depth of the 
water in said ford, whether or not it was possible to cross it on 
horseback, and to report as soon as practicable to him at the res- 
idence of Mr. Rice, in Dover, where he went to hold a council of 
war. I went to said ford, examined carefully, and found the 
water just high enough to reach the saddle- skirts on a horse of 
medium size. It was easily fordable. There were no Federals in 
that locality, and I returned by way of the big road to the city, 
and found Generals Floyd, Pillow, Buckner, and Colonel Forrest 
holding a conference at the house of Mr. Rice, and made my 
report, assuring him that the road was open and that the creek 
could be crossed. This was about midnight. General Pillow 
declared in my hearing that the army could get out and that the 
attempt should be then made. General Buckner entertained the 
opposite opinion, saying that an effort to take the army out then 
would bring on a night engagement, which would result in the 
loss of three-fourths of their command, and that no commander 
had the right to sacrifice his men in a hopeless encounter. Colo- 
nel Forrest expressed a desire to make an attempt to carry the 
army out, saying he would look after the rear. About two hours 
later Forrest went out and crossed at the ford of Lick Creek, on 
the Dover and Clarksville road above mentioned. I went with 
him, and was separated from the troops at the main ford, I 
crossed at the Hay ford, about three hundred yards above the 
Dover and Clarksville road. The ivater where I crossed was not 
exceeding eighteen inches deep, and there were no Federals nearer 

64 



i 



AT FORT DONELSON 

that point at that time than Bu for d s place, which is about one mile 
from the main ford where Forrest crossed." 

As soon as the conference ended, Forrest announced that he 
would not surrender himself nor his command, and strode out of 
the room. Arousing his sleeping troops, he gathered them about 
him and told them the situation of affairs, and that he would en- 
deavor to take out all who would follow him ; that he was going 
out if he went alone and died in the attempt. These brave men 
mounted their horses and rode out with their devoted command- 
er; not a man was lost, not an enemy encountered. 

As Forrest and those who followed him on horse and foot were 
marching away, before the day had yet dawned, a Confederate 
bugler from the parapets of Fort Donelson sounded a truce. The 
echo brought an answer from the lines of Grant, and there was 
sent a message from General S. B. Buckner to General U. S. 
Grant, with offers of capitulation and asking for terms. The gruff 
soldier had no time to talk of terms. With him it was " uncon- 
ditional surrender, or I will storm your works." That was all. 
Buckner laid down his arms and accepted the humiliating condi- 
tions. Thus fell the curtain upon the opening scene in the bloody 
drama of the ill-fated Army of Tennessee. 

From Fort Donelson to Nashville, almost without surcease, the 
clouds of disaster gathered over this army. The annals of warfare 
will in vain be searched for an equal record of persistent courage, 
of heroic self-sacrifice, of valor that availed naught by reason^'of 
unfortunate leadership. What a tragedy of errors! The unneces- 
sary surrender at Fort Donelson ; the delayed attack at Shiloh,^ 
and the lamentable failure to reap the full benefit of the first 
day's victory; Corinth, where a thousand gallant spirits laid down 
their lives in vain assault against impregnable intrenchments ; the 
trap at Vicksburg; then Perryville and the retreat from Ken- 
tucky; Murfreesborough, with the loss of Tennessee; Chicka- 
mauga's bloody and bootless victory ; the defeat at Knoxville, 
and the wild stampede from Missionary Ridge. Only for a little 
space of time the clouds rolled back and the sunlight of hope 

* Three days were occupied in moving Johnston's army twenty miles to 
attack Its unsuspecting antagonists. General Grant said that he had no idea 
of being attacked at Shiloh, and in fact was nine miles away when the battle 
opened. 



£ 



65 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

shone through. From Dalton to Atlanta the mighty genius of 
defensive warfare guided this army and made it stronger and 
even victorious in retreat under that great leader of brave men, 
General Joseph E. Johnston. But the strategy of Fabius, which 
alone bore promise of success, was not to be permitted.* 

The mad policy of aggression prevailed, and then the meteoric 
campaign of Hood, Atlanta, Peach - Tree Creek, Jonesborough, 
Altoona, Franklin, and Nashville, in quick and bloody succession, 
and the Army of Tennessee vanished in air. 

Ten thousand men, armed and ready for battle, should have 
marched out that night, and, with the boats which arrived in the 
early morning, three thousand more could have escaped across the 
river. Grant would have arrived to find the bird had flown. The 
empty fort and the artillery only would have been his. How 
changed would have been the pages of history if the plea of Na- 
than Bedford Forrest had been heeded by Generals Floyd and 
Buckner ! 

In Forrest's report, written immediately after the battle, he 

says: 

February, 1862. 
" The fight ended about 2.30 P.M., without any change in our relative 
positions. We were employed the remainder of the evening in gathering 
up the arms and assisting in getting off the wounded. I was three times 
over the battle-field, and, late in the evening, was two miles up the river, on 
the road to the forge. There were none of the enemy in sight when dark 
came on. Saturday night our troops slept, flushed with victory and confi- 

* "Johnston was now relieved of the command, and Hood superseded 
him. For my own part, I think that Johnston's tactics were right. Any- 
thing that could have prolonged the war a year beyond the time that it did 
finally close would probably have exhausted the North to such an extent that 
they might then have abandoned the contest and agreed to a separation. 

"Johnston's policy was the best one that could have been pursued by 
the whole South — protract the war, which was all that was necessary to en- 
able them to gain recognition in the end. The North was already growing 
weary, as the South evidently was also, but with this difference : in the 
North the people governed, and could stop hostilities whenever they chose 
to stop supplies. The South was a military camp, controlled absolutely by 
the government, with soldiers to back it, and the war could have been pro- 
tracted, no matter to what extent the discontent reached, up to the point 
of open mutiny of the soldiers Ma&vas.^\vt^y— Memoirs of U. S. Grant, vol. 
ii. pp. 167, 345. 

66 



AT FORT DONELSON 

dent they could drive the enemy back to the Tennessee River the next 
morning. 

" About twelve o'clock at night I was called in council with the generals, 
who had under discussion the surrender of the fort. They reported that the 
enemy had received ii.ooo reinforcements since the fight. They supposed 
the enemy had returned to the positions they had occupied the day before. 

" I returned to my quarters, and sent out two men, who, going by a road 
up the bank of the river, returned without seeing any of the enemy, only 
fires, which I believed to be the old camp-fires, and so stated to the gen- 
erals ; the wind, being very high, had fanned them into a blaze. 

" When I returned. General Buckner declared that he could not hold his 
position. Generals Floyd and Pillow gave up the responsibility of the com- 
mand to him, and I told them that I neither could nor would surrender 
my command. General Pillow then said I could cut my way out if I chose 
to do so, and he and General Floyd agreed to come out with me. I got my 
command ready and reported at headquarters. General Floyd informed me 
that General Pillow had left, and that he would go by boat. 

" I moved out by the road we had gone out the morning before. When 
about a mile out, crossed a deep slough from the river, saddle-skirt deep, and 
filed into the road to Cumberland Iron Works. I ordered Major Kelley and 
Adjutant Schuyler to remain at the point where we entered this road, with 
one company, where the enemy's cavalry would attack if they attempted to 
follow us. They remained until day was dawning. Over five hundred cav- 
alry had passed, a company of artillery horses had followed, and a number 
of men from different regiments, passing over hard-frozen ground. More 
than two hours had been occupied in passing. Not a gun had been fired at 
us, not an enemy had been seen or heard. 

"The enemy could not have reinvested their former position without 
travelling a considerable distance and camping upon the dead and dying, as 
there had been great slaughter upon that portion of the field, and I am clear- 
ly of the opinion that two-thirds of our army could have marched out with- 
out loss, and that, had we continued the fight the next day, we should have 
gained a glorious victory, as our troops were in fine spirits, believing we had 
whipped them. The roads through which we came were open as late as 
eight o'clock Sunday morning, as many of my men who came out afterwards 
report. 

"My regiment charged two batteries, taking nine pieces of artillery, 
which, with near four thousand stands of arms, I had taken inside of our 
lines." 

The long controversy over the comparative numbers of Federal 
and Confederate troops at Fort Donelson can now be practically 
settled. In his Memoirs, written after all the oflficial records were 
printed, General Grant says that on the 15th, the day of the bat- 

67 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

tie, he had 27,000 troops. He claims that there were on that day 
in the Confederate lines 21,000 men, which estimate cannot be 
sustained by the records. Generals Floyd, Pillow, and Buckner 
all state 13,000 as the total of the Southern troops. General A. 
S. Johnston on March 17th says he ordered troops enough there 
to make the force 17,000. As he was not there, he could not say 
with any degree of accuracy how many of these reached there 
and were present for duty. 

There were in all twenty-seven regiments of Confederate in- 
fantry at Fort Donelson.* In sixteen of these the number 
present is specifically stated, namely: 

Second Kentucky 600 

Eighth Kentucky 312 

First Mississippi 331 

Third Mississippi 546 

Fourteenth Mississippi 650 

Twentieth Mississippi (page 380) 500 

Twenty-sixth Mississippi 443 

Third Tennessee 750 

Eighteenth Tennessee (page 351) 685 

Twenty-sixth Tennessee 410 

Thirtieth Tennessee (page 377, Head's Regiment) 450 

Thirty-second Tennessee (page 351) 555 

Forty -first Tennessee 575 

Forty-second Tennessee (page 371, Quarles's Regiment)... 498 

Forty-ninth Tennessee (page 392) 300 

Seventh Texas 360 

Total officers and men 7965 

The following regiments are named, and the strength of the 
brigades is given in the official reports : 

Heiman's brigade: Tenth, Fifty-third (Abernathy's), and Forty-eighth 
Tennessee (Voorhies's), and Twenty - seventh Alabama (Hughes's) — in all 
1600. Drake's brigade: Fourth Mississippi, Fifteenth Arkansas, two com- 
panies of the Twenty-sixth Alabama, and Browder's fragment, 60 strong — 
total Drake's brigade, looo.t 

This gives a total of 10,565 ofificers and men for twenty-two regi- 
ments. The two companies of the Twenty- sixth Alabama and 
Browder's Battalion are included. 

* Official Records, vol. vii. \Ibid. pp. 366, 367. 

68 



AT FORT DONELSON 

Of the foregoing, the average number per regiment is 480. 

It is stated that Abernathy's, Voorhies's and Hughes's regiments 
were decimated by an epidemic of measles, and did not exceed 200 
men each for duty.* 

The strength of the Fiftieth, Fifty-first, Fifty-sixth, and Thirty- 
sixth Virginia, and Fiftieth Tennessee regiments is not given. 
General Pillow states f that the four Virginia regiments did not 
exceed 350 each. It will be a liberal estimate to allow these four 
regiments the average 480, as determined above, making a total 
of 2400. Estimating Colme's unattached battalion at 200, we have 
a grand total of 13,165 officers and men of the infantry. 

The Forrest Battalion 800 

Gantt's demi-Battalion 300 

Milton's, Williams's, Wilcox's, and Hewitt's companies — 

each 60 240 

Total cavalry under Forrest 1340 

In addition to the water and fort batteries of Maury, Dixon, 
and Culbertson, manned by the in/atttry, and so counted, there 
were the field-batteries of Graves, Porter, Jackson, Maney, Guy, 
and Green — estimated at 50 each, or a total of 300 artillerists. 
The grand total is, therefore : 

Infantry 13.165 

Cavalry 1.340 

Artillery 300 

Total 14,805 

In regard to the number of prisoners surrendered, it is a matter 
of very great surprise that no accurate report was submitted by 
General Grant or his staff, or if such report were made it has 
never found a place in the published official records. There can 
be no possible excuse for this failure. The men were there 
cooped up within the intrenchments, and a list of their names 
should have been made. Rations had to be issued to these men 
and transportation secured to the various prisons, and yet no 
record exists. General Grant claimed 15,000 prisoners, and says 
General Buckner told him that there would not be less than 12,000; 

* Official Records, vol. vii. p. 290. t Ibid. 

69 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

but the records show specifically that 1 134 wounded Confederates 
were shipped from Dover up the river to Clarksville and other 
points before the surrender. Grant says that fully 1000 went out 
with Forrest. He also says : " It is now known that Floyd and 
Pillow escaped during the night, taking with them not less than 
3000 men."* The testimony of a number of men who escaped 
on this route shows that at least 1500 went out with the cavalry 
leader. 

The official records do not bear out this statement of General 
Grant as to the number with Generals Floyd and Pillow. 

A careful search shows that when these regiments which escaped 
with Floyd reached Murfreesborough they numbered about 1286 
officers and men. General Floyd reports that he saved only a 
portion of each regiment. 

Thirty-sixth Virginia 243 

Fiftieth Virginia 285 

Fifty-first Virginia 274 

Fifty-sixth Virginia 184 

Twentieth Mississippi 300 

Total 1286 

These troops maintained their organization, and were held to- 
gether from Fort Donelson to Murfreesborough. 

In addition to these a sufficient number escaped by crossing 
the Cumberland from Dover, or walked out by Forrest's route, to 
make the total of Floyd's brigade escaping fully 1500. General 
Floyd says: "These reports were made before those who had 
been ferried over the river at Donelson had come up. A great 
many who were left effected their escape," etc.f 

Of the Confederates killed no report is made. I have arrived 
at the estimate of the Confederate dead as follows : 

An accurate list of the Federals killed and wounded shows that 
they had 500 men killed and 2100 wounded. In the two differ- 
ent assaults made on the 13th, the Federals suffered a very much 
larger proportion of killed and wounded than the Confederates, for 
the reason that the Confederates were sheltered behind their breast- 

* Memoirs of U. S. Grant, vol. i. p. 314. 
t Official Records, vol. vii. p. 275, 
70 



AT FORT DONELSON 

works. As far as the battle of the 15th is concerned, General C. 
F. Smith's division of necessity suffered a larger proportion of 
casualties than Buckner's division, for the reason that Smith ad- 
vanced over open ground and had to work his way through an 
abattis, which exposed his men to a destructive fire from the Con- 
federates who were then behind the earthworks. In the open 
fight with McClernand and Lew. Wallace's portions of the Union 
line, where the Confederates were the aggressors, it is safe to as- 
sume that the killed and wounded on the two sides were about 
equal. It will therefore be fair to estimate that the number of 
the Confederates killed were about one hundred less than the 
Federals, or four hundred in all, and that the Confederates wound- 
ed amounted to about fifteen hundred, all of whom escaped by 
being sent away, as above shown, excepting about three hundred 
and sixty-six who were left upon the battle-field or were in the 
hospitals in Dover when Buckner surrendered. 

This gives as being absent and not surrendered : with Floyd and 
Pillow, 1500; Forrest, 1500; wounded sent away, 1134; dead on 
the battle-field, 400; total not surrendered, 4534. 

Deducting these from the liberal estimate of the entire Con- 
federate forces, 14,805, leaves 10,271 prisoners of war captured by 
General Grant at Fort Donelson.* 

* The author has in his possession a letter from Colonel Robert Wilson, 
residing (1899) in Bonaparte, Iowa, who, as shown by the official records, 
was captain in the Eighth Illinois Infantry, and "was breveted lieutenant- 
colonel for gallant and meritorious services at the battle of Fort Donelson," 
where he was desperately wounded. In this letter he says he can testify to 
the assertion that the forces inside the fort could have made their way out 
without much, if any, opposition. He was severely wounded early on the 
morning of the 15th and left upon the field, and Forrest's cavalry, charging 
upon Oglesby's retreating brigade, passed immediately over him. The 
Confederate surgeon dressed his wound and wrapped him up in blankets, 
which act, he states, prevented him from freezing to death. He states also 
that after the Confederates withdrew towards Fort Donelson he remained on 
the ground until long after daylight the next morning before any Federal 
soldiers came upon that part of the field. " In the meantime I lay there 
conscious but helpless, and wondering why they did not come." 



CHAPTER IV 

NASHVILLE AND SHILOH 

Forrest with His Troopers Reaches Nashville — City in Panic — Mobs Led by Desper- 
ate Men Terrify Citizens and Pillage Private Residences and Public Stores — For- 
rest Charges with His Cavalry and Restores Order — An Attempt to Kill Him by 
the Ringleader of the Mob, who is Felled to the Ground with a Pistol — Impresses 
Wagons and Hauls an Immense Quantity of Supplies to Points on the Railroad 
South of Nashville — Battalion Increased to a Regiment — Forrest Elected Colonel, 
D. C. Kelley Lieutenant-Colonel, and Private R. N. Balch Major — Ordered to the 
Neighborhood of Corinth — Forrest's Scouts Cross the Tennessee and Report Buell 
Advancing — Battle of Shiloh — Charge and Capture of a Battery with Cheatham's 
Brigade — Forrest alone After Dark Penetrates the Enemy's Line and Returns to 
Report the Landing of Reinforcements — Advises Immediate Attack — The Second 
Day's Battle — The Cavalry Cover Retreat — Desperate Charge and Repulse of Sher- 
man's Advance by Forrest at Monterey — Forrest Badly Wounded — This Charge 
Causes Sherman to Desist from Pursuit of the Confederates — General Forrest Ob- 
tains Leave of Absence on Account of Wound — Returns to Duty too Soon — 
Wound Reopens, Necessitating Operation for Removal of the Ball. 

AFTER the escape from Fort Donelson, Forrest and his com- 
£-^ mand encamped for the night twenty miles from the field 
of battle. There was no thought of following him or the 
infantry that escaped with him, on the part of the Federal gen- 
eral, notwithstanding the fact that the Union cavalry had taken 
little or no part in the action of the 15th, and was therefore in ex- 
cellent condition for pursuit, if such had been deemed safe. On 
Monday the march was continued, and on Tuesday, the i8th of 
February, at 10 A.M., Forrest reached Nashville and reported to 
General Floyd, who was then commanding the city. The wildest 
condition of disorder prevailed in the capital of Tennessee. Panic 
was not confined to the citizens, women, and children, but soldiers 
and officers alike seemed to have lost their heads as the result of 
the disaster at Fort Donelson and the approach of Buell's army, 
which was reported to be advancing from the direction of Bowling 
Green. The enormous and exceedingly valuable quantity of sup- 
plies which had been gathered for the future use of the Confed- 

72 



PANIC IN NASHVILLE 

erate army was left behind in the hurry and confusion attending 
the general stampede to get away from the city before the Fed- 
erals arrived. No intelligent or energetic effort was being made 
to have these supplies shipped to the South. Into this scene of 
disorder and alarm Forrest brought the influence of his cool head, 
clear judgment, and personal courage. He was authorized by 
General Floyd to take command of the city, which at that time 
was in the possession of a plundering and violent mob. Neither 
private nor public property nor human life was safe. The govern- 
ment stores were being broken open and pillaged in broad day- 
light. Wagon-loads of material were being carted away to the 
country without authority and for private use. The government 
officials were gone. The president of one of the largest railroads, 
with more discretion than valor or patriotism, appropriating an 
engine and a great train of cars for the removal of his personal 
property, had steamed away for the far South. Forrest's first 
order was to detail his men to take possession of and place 
guards over the public commissary. The rabble refused at first 
to disperse as ordered. When this was reported to Forrest he 
rode with his troops directly into the plundering crowd, belabor- 
ing the more obstinate members over the heads and shoulders 
with their sabres until they yielded. In one instance a fire-engine 
was brought up and a stream of cold water played upon the mob 
with great and immediate success. One man, a ringleader of the 
motley crowd, evidently under the influence of liquor, rushed at 
Forrest, and was in the act of striking him when the butt of the 
cavalryman's six-shooter came down upon his head, felling him 
unconscious to the ground. The conquest over the leader had 
the happy effect of inducing his followers to desist from further 
attempts at violence or robbery. 

The impressment of every available wagon, horse, and mule in 
and about Nashville, for removal of the stores, was ordered. Sev- 
eral hundred large boxes of clothing were sent to the Nashville 
and Chattanooga depot, and rolling-stock ordered to return there 
to carry these supplies away. One hundred bales of osnaburgs, 
and large quantities of other military supplies from the quarter- 
master's department, and nearly a thousand wagon-loads of meat, 
were hauled to the depot of the Tennessee and Alabama Railroad. 

Finding that supplies were gathering at these two depots in 

73 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

such quantities that they might not be able to load all on the 
cars, he had all the ammunition hauled some eight miles on the 
line of the railroad leading to Decatur, from which point it was 
shipped by train farther south after the enemy had occupied 
the city. 

Forrest remained in Nashville with forty men twenty-four hours 
after the arrival of the enemy at Edgefield, upon the opposite 
bank of the Cumberland. He said in his report that with proper 
diligence all the public stores could have been transported to 
places of safety. He finally left the city as the Federals entered, 
and marched to Murfreesborough, reaching there on Sunday night, 
February 23, 1862, where he reported to General Albert Sidney 
Johnston. He was on the following day ordered to proceed with 
his regiment to Huntsville, Alabama, to rest and recruit his men, 
where they arrived on February 25th. The entire command was 
immediately disbanded by furlough, to reassemble on the loth of 
March. Without exception the men reported back on the date 
given, newly clad and fitted out for the rough and trying cam- 
paign which they well knew was in store for them under their 
vigorous and earnest leader. At this place they were joined by a 
new company (D), which had been raised by a brother of the 
lieutenant-colonel. Captain Jesse A. Forrest. The command had 
scarcely reassembled when orders came to proceed at once to 
Burnsville, Mississippi, seven miles west of luka, which place was 
reached on the i6th of March. Here another company, under 
Captain C. H. Schuyler, raised in Fayette and Hardeman coun- 
ties, Tennessee, was added to the command, which was now organ- 
ized as a full regiment. N. B. Forrest was elected colonel , D. C. 
Kelley was promoted to the grade of lieutenant-colonel, and Pri- 
vate R. N. Balch elected major; J. P. Strange was made adjutant 
of the regiment. At Burnsville the command went into camp 
with daily drill and post and picket duty. 

Until the forward movement to the battle-field at Shiloh 
on the 2d of April, nothing of interest transpired as far as the 
cavalry of Colonel Forrest is concerned, with the exception of 
despatching a scout of twenty men from McDonald's company, 
who were sent to the neighborhood of Marr's Landing, on the 
Tennessee River, to watch and report the movements of the en- 
emy, who were supposed to be moving at that time under the 

74 



MOVEMENT ON SHILOH 

command of General Buell to Pittsburg Landing. The full cor- 
roboration of this movement was reported back to Forrest, who 
immediately informed General A. S. Johnston that a large force 
was moving in the direction of Shiloh to reinforce General Grant. 
It was the knowledge of these heavy reinforcements which caused 
the Confederate commander to hurry forward his army in order 
to strike and crush his antagonist before Buell could reach him. 
When the movement towards Shiloh began, Forrest's regiment 
was attached to Breckinridge's division, and marched with it as 
far as Monterey. At this point he was directed to advance along 
the south side of Lick Creek, to throw out a strong picket force, 
and closely observe any movement on the part of the enemy; and 
on the night of Friday, April 4th, his men were disposed on this 
part of the field as ordered. On Saturday, April 5th, some slight 
skirmishing occurred between the Federal outposts and his pick- 
ets, and on the afternoon of that day Colonel Forrest rode to the 
headquarters of General Johnston to inquire what duty he was 
expected to perform in the impending battle. He returned to 
his command by dark, and slept with his troops in such close 
proximity to the Federal encampments that the music from the 
various bands along the Union lines was distinctly heard. Major 
G. V. Rambaut, in his reminiscences of Forrest at Shiloh, states an 
amusing incident which occurred during the night before the first, 
day's battle. About midnight the camp was awakened by the 
lieutenant in command of the outpost with orders to "'make no 
noise, and get to your horses as fast as you can.' We could dis- 
tinctly hear the steady tramp of feet (as we then supposed) of the 
enemy's infantry moving along the banks of the creek. Our vi- 
dettes and outposts had been withdrawn, and our men stood 
ready to fire at command. Gradually and steadily the advancing 
tramp grew nearer until it reached the side of the creek just op- 
posite to us, and as each man stood peering through the dark- 
ness to catch a glimpse of the supposed enemy, imagine our relief 
when we saw it was only an escaped artillery horse which had 
strayed away from one of the Union batteries." 

Early on the morning of the 6th the heavy firing rolled in 
from the left of the Confederate line, and told that the fight had 
commenced. As soon as the sound of battle was heard, Forrest 
led his regiment across Lick Creek and sent one of his staff to his 

75 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

commander-in-chief for instructions, but no answer was received 
from General Johnston. The firing grew heavier, and, judging 
from the changing directions in the sound, the Federals were evi- 
dently being driven back. It was now about eleven o'clock. For- 
rest rode out in the front of his command in the direction of the 
enemy, and, finding that they were giving way towards the river, 
he came back, and, waiting no longer for orders, marched in the 
direction of the firing. Failing to find General Breckinridge or 
any other commander to whom he could report, he advanced his 
command at a gallop to the point where the infantry seemed to 
be most desperately engaged. As the cavalry came up they were 
met by the men of Cheatham's division, which had just been 
repulsed. Major Rambaut says : " We passed to the front of 
them at a point where there was just ahead an open field, and be- 
yond that a black-jack thicket. On the left of the field was a 
skirt of timber-land with considerable underbrush, and to the 
right a small peach orchard, and farther back another thicket of 
black-jack. Across this field two or more batteries were planted, 
and one in the edge of the peach orchard. As we came in sight, 
the guns from one of these batteries were turned upon us. For- 
rest rode up to General Cheatham and asked him if he would 
give him orders to charge the battery, saying, ' I cannot permit 
my men to remain here under fire; I will have either to move for- 
ward or backward.' Cheatham replied, ' I cannot give you or- 
ders ; if you make the charge, it will be on your own responsi- 
bility.' Forrest's answer was, 'Then I'll do it.'"* He at once 
ordered his regiment to move forward. Reaching the open field, 
they received a volley from the battery. By this discharge three 
men and four horses were killed. The bugle sounded the charge, 
and the cavalry moved down upon them at full speed. They did 
not have time to fire a second round, as the troopers rushed on 
the gunners, running over and through the battery. The guns to 
the right escaped, as they were protected by a thick undergrowth 
through which the horses could not pass. The infantry came up 
and took possession of the guns, and the mounted men again fell 
back behind them. Shortly after this episode an order came to 
Forrest to move to that portion of the field where Prentiss was 

* IVz'th Forrest at Shtloh. 
76 



IN THE BATTLE OF SHILOH 

being sorely pressed. Marching at a rapid gait, they arrived just 
in time to witness the disorganization of this Union division. 
The cavalry regiment rode at the flying infantry, passed entirely 
through their ranks, and cut them off from the river by taking 
position between the troops of Prentiss and the reserves near 
Pittsburg Landing. Here occurred the surrender of General 
Prentiss and about three thousand of Grant's army. 

Keeping on the right flank of the infantry as it still pushed on, 
Colonel Forrest came upon the battery planted in the last stand 
by the Federals on the ridge near Pittsburg Landing. Throwing 
forward his skirmishers, dismounted, the colonel, who advanced 
with them, soon discovered the great confusion in the ranks of 
the enemy, and immediately despatched a courier to General 
Polk, acquainting him with the condition of affairs, and ventur- 
ing the suggestion that if the infantry were at once vigorously 
thrown forward the Union army would be driven into the river. 
But other counsel prevailed, and between four and five o'clock in 
the afternoon Forrest received orders to fall back with Chalmers's 
brigade and camp upon the battle-field. During the night the 
enemy's gunboats kept up an almost constant shelling of the 
woods, in which the Confederates were trying to sleep. Soon 
after dark the colonel of cavalry went to the front, and, creeping 
along the river-bank, reached a position where he could distinctly 
see the lights from arriving steamers and hear the commands 
given in the disembarking of reinforcements. He hastened to 
convey this information to General Chalmers. This officer says: 
" I was awakened by one of my staff, who told me that Colonel 
N. B. Forrest desired to see me. I got up and went out in the 
darkness and asked him what he wanted. He said : * I want to 
know if you could tell me where I could find the commanding 
officer of the army?' I replied I did not know, and upon my in- 
quiry as to what news he had, if any, he said : ' I have been way 
down along the river-bank, close to the enemy. I could see the 
lights on the steamboats and hear distinctly the orders given in 
the disembarkation of the troops. They are receiving reinforce- 
ments by the thousands, and if this army does not move and at- 
tack them between this and daylight, and before other reinforce- 
ments arrive, it will be whipped like hell before ten o'clock 
to-morrow.' Forrest rode away and found the commander-in- 

n 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

chief, told him what he had heard and seen, and the unlettered 
colonel was told to go back to his regiment." * 

Late on Sunday afternoon, and all night, Buell's troops were 
landing. Early on Monday morning the enemy, with more than 
25,000 fresh soldiers, advanced full of fight and swept the Con- 
federates away. Forrest, ordered to protect the right flank, was 
soon heavily engaged, and when the order for the retreat of the 
army was issued Breckinridge covered the movement with For- 
rest's regiment between him and the enemy. At night, when 
about four and one-half miles from Pittsburg Landing, he moved 
with a portion of his command in the direction of Lick Creek, to 
guard against any advance from that direction. The retreat tow- 
ards Corinth was resumed the next morning, with Colonel Forrest 
covering the Confederate rear. 

Near Monterey, General Sherman advanced with two brigades 
of infantry and the Fourth Illinois Cavalry under Colonel Dickey, 
the cavalry in front. Reaching the fork of the road leading to 
Corinth, the infantry, under General Wood, was ordered by Sher- 
man to advance cautiously along one road, while he took the third 
brigade of his division along the other route, which led to the 
right. One-half mile beyond the forks of this road was an open 
field, through which the highway passed, and beyond this field a 
clearing of fallen timber several hundred yards wide. The Con- 
federate camps could be seen from this point, from one-half to 
three -fourths of a mile in the distance. Sherman immediately 
pushed forward a strong line of infantry skirmishers, and advanced 
his entire command in the direction of the encampment. He did 
not know until later that Forrest was a close observer of his move- 
ments and was ready to contest his advance. 

Major Thomas Harrison, then in command of the gallant " Texas 
Rangers," had reported to Forrest with 220 of his men, and, in 
addition, a company from Wirt Adams's regiment and two com- 
panies of Morgan's Kentucky cavalry ; and these, together with 
his own men, this commander had carefully concealed behind a 
wooded ridge which ran nearly parallel with the road upon which 
Sherman was advancing. Following his usual custom, he had 
dismounted a certain number of his men, and these were offering 

* Southern Historical Society Papers. 
78 



IN THE BATTLE OF SHILOH 

slight resistance to the advance of the line of Federal skirmishers. 
Behind the Union skirmishers and about two hundred yards in 
front of the brigade under Sherman, in line of battle, came the 
Illinois cavalry under Colonel Dickey. After passing through the 
fallen timber a short distance, and while crossing a small stream, 
Dickey's cavalry was thrown into temporary confusion, and just 
as this was observed by Forrest he shouted " Charge !" and at the 
head of his command, about eight hundred in all, rode right over 
the line of infantry skirmishers, and closed in with Dickey's cav- 
alry. Being in confusion when the assault was made, their re- 
sistance was feeble, and they gave way in a wild stampede, run- 
ning rough-shod over their comrades in Sherman's first line of in- 
fantry. The Federal and Confederate cavalry became mixed up 
in a wild mel^e. The infantry were thrown into a panic, threw 
down their guns and also broke for the rear, suffering considerable 
damage from the pistols and sabres of the Confederate cavalry. 
As they approached the second line of Sherman's reserves, a bri- 
gade in line of battle, the more cautious of the Confederate troop- 
ers pulled up their horses in time, and under the direction of their 
officers made their way safely back to the rear. Unfortunately 
for Forrest, his horse had carried him so far into the line of Union 
reserves before he could check the animal and turn to retreat 
that the soldiers rushed forward and attempted to surround and 
capture or kill him. They fired at him from all sides, shouting, 
"Shoot that man!" "Knock him off his horse!" So close were 
they that one infantryman pushed his musket almost against the 
colonel's side and discharged it, the ball entering just above the 
left hip, traversing the large muscles of the back, and lodging 
against the spinal column. He was barely able to maintain his 
seat, and, to add to the peril of the situation, his horse was 
wounded severely in two places. Though mortally shot, the 
plucky animal leaped from his rider's assailants, while Forrest, 
with pistol in hand, opened an avenue of escape through which 
he spurred his horse, and found safety in flight. 

As shown in General Sherman's official report, this desperate 
and successful attack by Colonel Forrest checked all pursuit of the 
flying Confederate army, which, badly beaten at Shiloh on tjie 
second day, was retreating towards Corinth, in no shape to resist 
a vigorous pursuit such as Sherman was capable of. 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

From this severe wound Forrest did not entirely recover for 
many weeks, during which period it gave him much pain and an- 
noyance. The noble steed that had done him such great service 
in this trying experience lived to reach Corinth, but died from 
his wounds the day after. 

Sherman, in speaking of this episode, says : 

" Headquarters Fifth Division, Tuesday, April 8, 1862. 
" With the cavalry placed at my command and two brigades of my fatigued 
troops I went this morning out on the Corinth road. One after another of 
the abandoned camps of the enemy lined the roads, with hospital flags for 
their protection ; at all we found more or less wounded and dead men. At 
the forks of the road I found the head of General T. J. Wood's division of 
Buell's army. I ordered cavalry to examine both roads leading towards 
Corinth, and found the enemy on both. Colonel Dickey, of the Fourth Illi- 
nois Cavalry, asking for reinforcements, I ordered General Wood to advance 
the head of his column cautiously on the left-hand road, while I conducted 
the head of the Third Brigade of my division up the right-hand road. About 
half a mile from the forks was a clear field through which the road passed, 
and, immediately beyond, a space of some two hundred yards of fallen tim- 
ber, and beyond that an extensive rebel camp. The enemy's cavalry could 
be seen in this camp. After reconnaissance, I ordered the two advance com- 
panies of the Ohio Seventy-seventh, Colonel Hildebrand, to deploy forward 
as skirmishers, and the regiment itself forward into line, with an interval of 
one hundred yards. In this order we advanced cautiously until the skir- 
mishers were engaged. Taking it for granted this disposition would clear 
the camp, I held Colonel Dickey's Fourth Illinois Cavalry ready for the 
charge. The enemy's cavalry came down boldly at a charge, led by General 
Forrest in person, breaking through our line of skirmishers ; when the regi- 
ment of infantry, without cause, broke, threw away their muskets, and fled. 
The ground was admirably adapted for a defence of infantry against cavalry, 
being miry and covered with fallen timber. 

" As the regiment of infantry broke, Dickey's cavalry began to discharge 
their carbines and fell into disorder. I instantly sent orders to the rear for 
the brigade to form line of battle, which was promptly executed. The 
broken infantry and cavalry rallied on this line, and, as the enemy's cavalry 
came to it, our cavalry in turn charged and drove them from the field. I 
advanced the entire brigade over the same ground, and sent Colonel 
Dickey's cavalry a mile farther on the road. On examining the ground 
which had been occupied by the Seventy-seventh Ohio, we found fifteen 
of our men dead and about twenty-five wounded. I sent for wagons, and 
had all the wounded carried back to camp and caused the dead to be buried, 
also the whole rebel camp to be destroyed. 

" Here we found much ammunition .or field-pieces, which was destroyed ; 

80 



IN THE BATTLE OF SHILOH 

also two caissons, and a general hospital, with about two hundred and eighty 
Confederate wounded, and about fifty of our own wounded men. Not hav- 
ing the means of bringing them off. Colonel Dickey, by my orders, took a 
surrender, signed by the medical director (Lyle) and by all the attendino- 
surgeons, and a pledge to report themselves to you as prisoners of war ; also 
a pledge that our wounded should be carefully attended to, and surrendered 
to us to-morrow as soon as ambulances could go out. I enclose this writ- 
ten document, and request that you cause wagons or ambulances for our 
wounded to be sent to-morrow, and that wagons be sent to bring in the 
many tents belonging to us which are pitched along the road for four mLles 
out. I did not destroy them, because I knew the enemy could not move 
them. The roads are very bad, and are strewed with abandoned wagons, 
ambulances, and limuer-boxes. The enemy has succeeded in carrying of! 
the guns, but has crippled his batteries by abandoning the hind limber-boxes 
of at least twenty caissons. I am satisfied the enemy's infantry and artillery 
passed Lick Creek this morning, travelling all of last night, and then he left 
to his rear all his cavalry, which has protected his retreat ; but signs of con- 
fusion and disorder mark the whole road. The check sustained by us at the 
fallen tttnber delayed our advance, so that night came upon us before the 
•wounded were provided for and the dead buried, and our troops beiftg fagged 
out by three days' hard fighting, exposure, and privation, I ordered them back 
to their camps, where they now are. 

" I have the honor to be, your obedient servant, 

" W. T. Sherman, 
" Brigadier-General Commanding Division. 

"To Major-General Grant."* 

The gallant part borne by Major Thomas Harrison and his 
Texas Rangers should not be forgotten. No braver soldiers ever 
fought under any flag than Terry's Rangers. 

In addition to the fifteen men killed and twenty-five wounded 
in the desperate and brilliant charge, a number of prisoners were 
taken to the rear. Major Harrison reports forty-three taken by 
his own Rangers, and it is probable that others were captured. 
General Sherman admits that, as the result of this charge of For- 
rest, he did not push on any farther after the retreating army of 
Beauregard. 

This was the first occasion in which this stern old warrior, one 
of the greatest of all the Union generals, had met in battle and 
felt the prowess of the Confederate cavalry leader. From that 
day on he formed a high estimate of Forrest's ability as a soldier. 

* Memoirs of Gen. W. T. Sherman, vol. i. p. 243. Italics not in original. 
F * 81 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

The wound received by Forrest was so severe that he was car- 
ried to his home in Memphis in order to submit to whatever sur- 
gical treatment was necessary for his recovery. He improved 
rapidly, and although very far from having sufficiently recovered 
to be back on duty, he left Memphis on the 29th of April (twenty- 
one days after he had been wounded) to rejoin his command. 

He paid, however, the penalty of this indiscretion, for a few 
days after he had joined his command at Corinth the wound be- 
came exceedingly painful and swollen, and reopened, necessitating 
a second severe operation for the removal of the ball, which con- 
fined him to his bed for the next two weeks. 



CHAPTER V 

THE CAPTURE OF MURFREESBOROUGH, JULY 13, 1 862 

The Capture of Murfreesborough, July 13, 1862, Considered by General Wolseley 
One of the Most Remarkable Achievements of Forrest's Career — Organization 
of a Cavalry Brigade at Chattanooga — Report of the Scouts as to the Federal 
Situation at Murfreesborough — Forrest Crosses the Tennessee River — Reaches 
the Suburbs of Murfreesborough at Daylight on July 13th — Capture of the Out- 
post Pickets without Firing a Shot — Complete Surprise of the Federal Encamp- 
ments — Successful Strategy and Tactics — He Attacks Vigorously the Central Por- 
tion of the Garrison, Cutting the F"ederals in Twain — Capture of Brigadier-General 
Crittenden — Gallant Resistance by the Ninth Michigan, under Acting Brigadier- 
General W. W. Duffield, and the Seventh Pennsylvania, under Major Seibert — 
Detachments Hold the Right and Left Wings Engaged while Forrest Captures 
the Centre — He then Turns First upon One Wing, which He Captures, and then 
upon the Other, which also Surrenders — Twelve Hundred Prisoners, including 
Teamsters, Provost Guards, etc., and Four Pieces of Artillery — Prisoners Rescued 
from the Burning Jail — Narrative of Captain William Richardson — James Paul, Spy 
— Forrest Retreats to McMinnville with His Prisoners and Booty — Returns and 
Threatens Nashville — Is Pursued by Various Detachments, which He Succeeds 
in Avoiding — Captures Stockades and Garrisons, and Destroys the Railroad — Is 
Surrounded, but Takes to the Woods with His Command, and Escapes without 
Loss — Joins Bragg in the Invasion of Kentucky — Takes an Active Part in the Capt- 
ure of the Garrison at Munfordville. 

ON the 13th of July, 1862, on his forty-first birthday, Forrest, 
in the capture of Murfreesborough, with its entire garrison, 
a brigade of infantry and cavalry, Brigadier-General T. T. 
Crittenden, and Colonel, acting Brigadier, W. W. Duffield, per- 
formed what General Wolseley, commander-in-chief of the British 
army, considers one of the most remarkable adiievements of his 
career, " His operations that day showed a-fare mixture of mil- 
itary skill and what is known by our American cousins as ^ bluff ^ 
and led to the surrender of the various camps attacked. It was a 
brilliant success, and as it was Forrest's first great foray, it at once 
established his reputation as a daring cavalry leader, to be dreaded 
by all Federal commanders of posts and stations within his sphere 
of action." 

83 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

The advance of this cavahy expedition into middle Tennessee 
was in accordance with the plan of campaign which had been de- 
termined upon by the Confederate leaders, Beauregard and Bragg, 
shortly after the defeat of the Southern army at Shiloh and the re- 
treat to Corinth, and thence to Tupelo, Mississippi. The chief 
feature of this aggressive movement was the advance of the army 
under Bragg from the neighborhood of Chattanooga into middle 
Tennessee and thence on to Kentucky, and a similar movement 
on the part of General E. Kirby Smith, who from the vicinity of 
Knoxville, in east Tennessee, was to cross the Cumberland Moun- 
tains and co-operate with the movement of Bragg by a union of the 
two invading armies in time to confront Buell near the Ohio 
River. 

It was not until the first week in June that Forrest had suf- 
ficiently recovered from the terrible wound received at Monterey 
on the 8th of April to again take the field. Reporting for duty 
to the commanding officer in northern Mississippi, he was on the 
nth of June, 1862, ordered to proceed at once to Chattanooga to 
organize a brigade of cavalry, with which he was to operate in 
that department. To the great regret of his devoted troops and 
their leader, he was not permitted to take his already famous 
regiment with him. He was, however, allowed to select several 
of the officers and twenty picked men as his personal escort, and 
these he placed under the command of his brother, Captain Will- 
iam Forrest. Arriving at Chattanooga on the 19th of June, it 
was his great good-fortune to find that the Eighth Texas Cavalry, 
better known as " Terry's Rangers," was to form a part of his 
small brigade. Entering the service in the early months of the 
war, this command, made up of hardy rough riders from the cattle 
ranches of Texas, men who from their earliest boyhood were ac- 
customed to the horse and the ready use of the gun and pistol, 
they sustained to the close of hostilities the reputation for 
gallantry which they achieved under the brave Terry, their first 
colonel, who fell in a skirmish near Green River, Kentucky, in 
1861. Colonel, afterwards Major-General, John A. Wharton suc- 
ceeded to the command of this body of cavalry, and was then 
at the head of the regiment when it came under Forrest. In 
addition there were the Second Georgia regiment of cavalry under 
Colonel J. K. Lawton, the Second Georgia battalion, commanded 

84 



MOVING ON MURFREESBOROUGH 

by Colonel Morrison, and lOO Kentuckians formerly belonging to 
Helm's regiment, who, having re-enlisted, and having elected as 
their commander Lieutenant-Colonel Woodward, were mounted 
and assigned to the brigade of acting Brigadier-General Forrest. 

With his wonted energy, Forrest applied himself at once to the 
organization and equipment of his new command. By the 6th 
of July he had everything in readiness for the advance into middle 
Tennessee. In the mean time he had sent several of his most 
reliable scouts into this section, and these had returned with 
accurate information as to the location of various Federal com- 
mands in that region. He learned that at Murfreesborough there 
were two regiments of infantry— the Ninth Michigan and Third 
Minnesota— a portion of the Seventh Pennsylvania Cavalry, and a 
battery of four guns. The capture of these troops he determined 
to undertake. Crossing the Tennessee River on the 9th of July, his 
command moved rapidly by two different routes to McMinnville, 
forty miles from Murfreesborough, where all the troops arrived 
on the nth of July. At McMinnville he received accessions to 
his command in two companies of Spiller's battalion, commanded 
by Major Smith, and two independent companies under Captains 
Taylor and Waltham, bringing the entire force in this expedition 
to 1500 men. At noon of July 12th he moved from McMinnville, 
and early on the morning of the 13th, while it was as yet not quite 
daylight, the advance of the column reached the suburbs of Mur- 
freesborough. A company of Wharton's Texans was sent forward, 
and was soon halted by the Federal outposts. In answer to the 
challenge, "Who goes there?" they replied that they were a com- 
pany of the Seventh Pennsylvania Cavalry marching to join their 
command in Murfreesborough. The Federal sentinels were not 
aware of their mistake until they were surrounded by the Rang- 
ers, who with pistols drawn captured the entire picket force 
without firing a gun to arouse the sleeping garrison. From 
these prisoners Forrest learned that Colonel Duffield had been 
superseded in command by Brigadier- General Thomas T.Crit- 
tenden, of Indiana, who had arrived on the 12th of July. He 
also learned, to his great satisfaction, that there had been no con- 
centration of the different Federal commands in Murfreesbor- 
ough ; that the Ninth Michigan Infantry and two companies of 
the Seventh Pennsylvania Cavalry were camped near each other 

85 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

just within the edge of the village; the Third Minnesota and 
Hewett's battery occupied a second camp one mile and a half 
beyond the town ; while two other companies of the Eighth 
Kentucky Cavalry and one company of the Ninth Michigan, and 
other small detachments, were doing provost duty at the jail, 
in which a number of Confederate soldiers and citizens were im- 
prisoned, as well as guarding the headquarters of General Crit- 
tenden in the principal hotel. Quickly forming his plans, his 
command was divided into three sections. The Texas Rangers, 
under Colonel John A. Wharton, were to take the advance and 
assail the camp of the five companies of the Ninth Michigan In- 
fantry and two companies of the Seventh Pennsylvania Cavalry, 
situated to the right of the pike as they entered Murfreesborough, 
and either to capture them at once, or, failing in this, to hold them 
engaged until the other detachments could be disposed of. Colo- 
nel Morrison's battalion, under Forrest's personal leadership, was 
to advance immediately to the centre of the town, divided into 
three squadrons, one of which was to assail the court-house, an- 
other the jail, while the third detachment was to surround the 
hotel in which General Crittenden was known to be sleeping, and 
to capture this officer. 

The First Georgia Cavalry, under Colonel Lawton, with Wood- 
ward's Kentuckians, and the independent Tennessee companies, 
under the command of Colonel Lawton, were to charge immedi- 
ately through the village without halting for any purpose, and to 
throw themselves between the Third Minnesota and Hewett's 
battery and the village, in order to prevent their junction with 
the Federals that were being assaulted in Murfreesborough. The 
command was then formed in columns of fours upon the pike, 
and advanced slowly and cautiously until, just as the day was 
dawning, they were in sight of the tents of the Federal encamp- 
ment. The command to charge was then given, and away Whar- 
ton sped down the pike at the head of the Texans. The roar and 
clatter of the horses' hoofs upon the macadamized turnpike, and 
the wild yells of the entire Confederate command as they swept 
onward, aroused the sleeping Federals from their beds. Before 
the Pennsylvania cavalrymen could get to their horses the Texans 
were among them, and those not captured or killed rushed over 
to the camp of the Ninth Michigan, which by this time was in 

86 



AT MURFREESBOROUGH 

wild confusion as the result of the surprise. The plucky Michi- 
ganders, however suddenly and unexpectedly assailed, were not 
to be taken without a fight. Acting Brigadier-General W. W. 
Dufifield, running out of his tent, called to his men to get their 
arms and stand their ground. He had scarcely given this com- 
mand before the Texans were riding in among them, firing at 
them, as the gallant Duffield said in his official report, at close 
range with ^^ shot-guns and pistols.'' A pistol-shot from Whar- 
ton himself seriously wounded Dufifield, who was forced to re- 
linquish the command of the infantry to Lieutenant -Colonel 
John G. Parkhurst. By this time the Federals had rallied, and 
under Parkhurst's command poured a heavy fusillade into the 
Confederates, who had lost their organization and were scattered 
in all directions through the camp. Here Colonel Wharton was 
badly wounded, and, being unable to take further part in the melee, 
the Texans were thrown into temporary confusion and driven 
back some two hundred yards from the Federal position. The 
Union commander, with great judgment, rapidly rallied his troops 
in an enclosure or lot fenced with heavy cedar pickets or posts set 
on end in the ground, and by the use of a number of wagons 
which were loaded with hay and other army supplies within a few 
minutes had extemporized a formidable stockade, and now held a 
strong position. Lieutenant-Colonel Walker, who took command 
of the Rangers after Wharton was disabled, recognizing the great 
loss of life which would follow any attempt to take Parkhurst's 
position by storm, deployed his men around it in order to hold 
them penned up until Forrest could come to him with aid. 
Meanwhile the firing was severe, and from every point of van- 
tage the Texans kept the Federals within the stockade busy. 

While this was transpiring, Forrest, who was in command of 
the second detachment, charged straight to the centre of the vil- 
lage, and surrounded the jail, court-house, and inn, which served 
as the headquarters of General Crittenden, his staff, and the pro- 
vost guards, all of whom were made prisoners. As they reached 
the jail they found this building on fire, it having been ignited by 
a Federal soldier, who immediately, with the other troops, rushed 
into the court-house, to form part of the garrison defending that 
position. About one hour was occupied in the search of the 
houses throughout the central portion of the village for the 

87 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

various parties of Federals who were quartered there, resulting 
in a number of captures. In the mean time the Federal troops 
who had taken refuge in the court-house were pouring volleys into 
all Confederates who came within their range. In order to si- 
lence these, Forrest organized an assault which was to move upon 
the building from all sides, batter down the doors, and immedi- 
ately close with the garrison. Under a galling and effective fire, 
at a word from Forrest they made short work of it. The doors 
yielded to the hastily improvised battering-ram. An entrance was 
effected, then hand to hand for a few minutes, and the Union 
troops, who had defended the position with great gallantry, threw 
down their arms. As soon as this was accomplished, a portion of 
the troops immediately under Forrest's supervision were detailed 
to reinforce the Texans, who were still engaging Parkhurst, while 
Forrest, with the remainder, moved rapidly in the direction of the 
second camp, which meanwhile had been attacked by Colonel 
Lawton's troops— the Georgians and Tennesseeans. Upon hear- 
ing the uproar in the village. Colonel Lester had aroused his 
camp and thrown his men into line of battle. As Forrest's at- 
tacking column was advancing in that direction they came into 
contact with the Third Minnesota and Hewett's battery moving 
towards Murfreesborough, to unite with their comrades there. 
They had proceeded only about four hundred yards from their 
camp when they met Lawton, who checked their progress in this 
direction. When Forrest reached the scene the troops were en- 
gaged at long range, but on account of the artillery which the 
Federals possessed the Confederates were at great disadvantage. 
He immediately led in person a detachment of his command to 
the Federal rear, and charged into the camp which Colonel Lester 
had occupied previous to the attack. This camp had been left 
in charge of about one hundred soldiers, and, rushing upon them 
suddenly from the rear, they offered little resistance. As the men 
were in the act of surrendering, one, more combative than his 
comrades, from behind a wagon not more than thirty feet from 
Forrest, blazed away at him with a musket, but fortunately missed 
his mark, and he was instantly shot down by the Confederate 
leader, who was almost unerring in his practice with the repeat- 
ing-pistol. Having captured the camp, and satisfied now that the 
Minnesota troops under Colonel Lester could neither advance nor 

88 



A SUCCESSFUL RUSE 

retreat from their present position, by a wide detour Forrest 
hastened with the troops under him to give his attention to that 
part of the fighting which had been undertaken by the Texas 
Rangers in the first assault of the morning. It was about eleven 
o'clock when Forrest arrived in front of the Michigan and Penn- 
sylvania troops, who were gallantly defending their stockade. 
He immediately sent a flag of truce to Colonels Duffield and 
Parkhurst, stating that he had succeeded in capturing all the 
other troops and had concentrated his entire command upon 
their position, and to avoid a further effusion of blood he demand- 
ed their immediate and unconditional surrender. This demand 
was accentuated with Forrest's usual threat — that if he was com- 
pelled to carry their position by assault he would give no quarter 
to those who resisted. Colonel Duffield and Lieutenant -Colonel 
Parkhurst had been shot down, and this detachment had already 
lost II killed and 86 wounded. Colonel Parkhurst says "that 
as General Forrest had concentrated his entire force save one 
squadron, and was preparing to make a charge upon us, and evi- 
dently intending to execute the threat contained in his demand 
for surrender, the oflficers of the regiment voted unanimously to 
surrender. At twelve o'clock, eight hours after the battle had 
begun, I surrendered my command as prisoners of war." Of 
course all the other Union troops had not been captured, nor 
had Forrest any idea of giving "no quarter" had Duffield not 
surrendered ; but with him " everything was fair in war," and he 
saved his men by causing the enemy to believe he would. Leav- 
ing a sufficient number of troops to guard the prisoners thus made, 
he hastened with the remainder of his soldiers to the position be- 
yond Murfreesborough, where Colonel Lester with the Minnesota 
troops and artillery were being held at bay. Here he practised 
successfully the same ruse which had been so effectual in inducing 
the surrender of the Michiganders. A flag of truce was sent forward 
with the following message: 

" Murfreesborough, /«/k 13, 1862. 
"Colonel, — I must demand an unconditional surrender of your force as 
prisoners of war, or I will have every man put to the sword. You are aware 
of the overpowering force I have at my command, and this demand is made 
to prevent the effusion of blood. I am, Colonel, very respectfully, your obe- 
dient servant, N. B. Forrest, 

" To Colonel Letter. Brigadier-General of Cavalry, C. S. A." 

89 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

Upon the receipt of this message Colonel Lester asked per- 
mission to consult with Colonel Duffield. As Duffield was 
wounded and a prisoner, Lester was immediately taken to the 
village under an escort, and, finding that all the other troops had 
surrendered, he immediately capitulated, turning over, as he said 
in his official report, about four hundred and fifty infantry, along 
with Captain John N. Hewett's Battery B, Kentucky light artil- 
lery, three six-pounder smooth-bores and one ten-pounder Parrott 
gun. Pluck and bluff had won the day. 

While all this was transpiring, among the many unhappy and 
anxious prisoners crowded in the county jail there were two 
who had every reason to be thankful that fate had led the great 
cavalryman into Murfreesborough at that particular hour. One 
of these was a spy, under the assumed name of James Paul ; 
the other was Captain William Richardson, at this date (1898) 
a prominent lawyer in Huntsville, Alabama. These two men 
had been informed that they had been condemned to death 
as spies, and would be executed at sunrise on the following 
day. Having spent the early part of the night with their 
minister, the Rev. D. T. Hensley, and then later on talked 
of their unhappy fate, it was not until a late hour that tired 
nature asserted itself, and they fell asleep. Judge Richardson 
says: 

" Just about daylight on the morning of the 13th I was aroused 
from sleep by my companion Paul, who had caught me by the 
arm and was shaking me, saying, * Listen, listen !' I started up, 
hearing a strange noise like the roar of an approaching storm. 
We both leaped to our feet and stood upon an empty box, which 
had been given us in lieu of a chair, and looked out through the 
small grating of our prison window. The roar grew louder and came 
nearer, and in a very few seconds we were sure we could discern 
the clattc of horses' feet upon the hard turnpike. In a moment 
more there could be no doubt as to the riders of these horses, for 
on the morning air there came to our ears with heartfelt welcome 
the famous rebel yell, the battle-cry of the Confederate soldiers. 
Almost before we could speak the advance-guard of the charging 
troopers came into sight and rushed by us on the street, some 
halting in front of the jail. Within the prison-yard one company 
of Federal troops had been stationed, and, seeing they were about 

90 




LIEUTENANT WILLIAM KICIIAKDSON 



JUDGE RICHARDSON SAVED 

to be surrounded by the Confederates and that our rescue was 
sure, several of these soldiers in wicked mood rushed into the 
passage-way in front of our cell and attempted to shoot us before 
they ran from the building. We only saved ourselves by running 
forward and crouching in the corner of the cell by the door, a 
position upon which they could not bring their guns to bear. Be- 
fore leaving the jail one of the Federal guards struck a match, and, 
lighting a bundle of papers, shoved this beneath the flooring of 
the hall-way where the planks were loose, and to our horror we 
realized that he was determined to burn us to death before the 
rescuing-party could break open the door. When the Southern 
riders reached us the fire was already under good headway, and 
the jailer had fled with the keys. It seemed as if we were still 
doomed. The metal doors were heavy, and it was not until some 
of our men came in with a heavy iron bar that the grating was 
bent back sufficiently at the lower corner to permit us to be 
dragged through as we laid flat upon the floor. At this moment 
Forrest dashed up and inquired of the officer in charge if he had 
rescued the prisoners. He said that they were safe, but added 
that the jail had been set on fire in order to burn them up, and 
the guard had taken refuge in the court-house. Forrest said, 
' Never mind, we'll get them." I shall never forget the appear- 
ance of General Forrest on that occasion ; his eyes were flashing 
as if on fire, his face was deeply flushed, and he seemed in a con- 
dition of great excitement. To me he was the ideal of a warrior. 
While I was talking to him he turned to a crowd of ladies who, 
frightened almost out of their wits by the terrible uproar that had 
so suddenly sprung upon them, had rushed out of their homes and 
into the streets, many of them in their night-clothes. In most 
respectful yet very earnest terms he told them they must go 
back to their homes to save themselves from personal injury. 
After the fighting had ceased and the Federal prisoners were all 
brought together, General Forrest came to me and said : ' They 
tell me these men treated you inhumanly while in jail. Point 
them out to me.* I told him there was but one man I wished to 
call his attention to, and that was the one who had set fire to the 
jail in order to burn us up. Forrest asked me to go along the 
line with him and point that man out. I did so. A few hours 
later, when the list of the private soldiers was being called, the 

91 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

name of this man was heard and no one answered ; Forrest said, 
' Pass on, it's all right.' " 

Captain Richardson had been wounded at the battle of Shiloh, 
where he was captured and forwarded to a Federal prison in In- 
diana. Having recovered from his wound, he made his escape 
and found his way back to Nashville, then in possession of the 
Federal army. Friends in that city, in the hope of aiding him to 
return to the South, placed him in company with a man who 
was said to be familiar with the routes leading out of Nashville 
between the Federal pickets. By some unfortunate error, near 
Black's shop on the Murfreesborough turnpike, they ran into the 
Federal outposts and were made prisoners. At Murfreesborough 
the captain, who was in citizen's clothes, was informed, to his 
horror, that the person who was with him was a Confederate 
spy, and that strong incriminating evidence had been found upon 
his person. This sealed the doom of both captives before any 
court-martial. On Saturday evening, July 12th, he was informed 
that if he had any preparations to make it would be advisable to 
make them, as he and Paul were to be executed on the next 
morning. The Rev. D. T. Hensley came to the prison and offered 
his services to the condemned men, but before the fatal hour 
could strike Captain Richardson and the spy, as well as others 
incarcerated with them, had found their freedom in a manner 
entirely unexpected. The hand of fate and Forrest had rescued 
them. 

In his official report Forrest states that there were captured 
between eleven and twelve hundred privates and non-commis- 
sioned officers. The commissioned officers not wounded and able 
to travel were sent South for exchange, the private soldiers 
were paroled at McMinnville. " I captured four pieces of artillery, 
which are still in my possession, with harness and ammunition, 
some fifty or sixty large wagons and teams, a number of cavalry 
horses, saddles, small arms, and ammunition." All the material 
which could not be removed was destroyed. As Forrest immedi- 
ately left with his command in the direction of McMinnville, he 
was unable to make an exact list of his killed and wounded. He 
states about twenty-five killed and sixty wounded. There can be 
but little doubt, however, that this estimate falls short of his actual 
loss. Wharton's command must have suffered severely in their 

92 , 



FORCES ENGAGED AT MURFREES BOROUGH 

encounter with the five companies of the Ninth Michigan and 
two companies of the Seventh Pennsylvania Cavalry, which de- 
tachment, commanded by two very gallant ofificers, resisted strong- 
ly and fought with pluck, as shown by their losses. Eleven killed 
and eighty-six wounded in the five Michigan companies, and five 
killed and twenty wounded, as reported by Major James J. Sei- 
bert of the Seventh Pennsylvania Cavalry, out of the eighty duty 
men present at the time of the attack, all attest the bravery of the 
soldiers. In Hewett's battery the casualties were one killed, three 
wounded, and seventy -one additional captured. The Michigan 
company in the court-house lost three wounded and one not ac- 
counted for. The losses in the Third Minnesota were two killed 
and eight wounded. As Forrest was the assailant, it would be a 
fair estimate to place his killed at twenty-five to thirty and wound- 
ed at one hundred. Colonel Dufifield says " that he buried more 
Confederates than Union dead."* 

General Crittenden claims his total effective force was 814, but 
a careful study of the report shows that this does not include the 
Seventh Pennsylvania troops and others on detached duty at 
Murfreesborough, and is therefore considerably less than the ac- 
tual number engaged. 

The court of inquiry appointed to examine into the cause of 
this disaster, in their report of January' 24, 1863, stated that " their 
estimate of the Federal troops present on the 13th of July, 1862, 
was 1040" ; to which, if one adds the teamsters connected with the 
wagon trains, and others on detached duty, the number would cor- 
respond to Forrest's report, which is eleven or twelve hundred. 
Major-General J. P. McCown, C. S. A., on July 17, 1862, from 
Chattanooga, telegraphed to General Bragg that " Forrest at- 
tacked Murfreesborough at five o'clock Sunday morning, July 
13th, and captured two brigadier- generals, staff and field ofificers, 
and 1200 men; burned $200,000 worth of stores; captured sufifi- 
cient stores with those burned to amount to $500,000; 60 wag- 
ons; 300 mules; 150 or 200 horses, and field - battery of four 
pieces; destroyed the railroad and depot at Murfreesborough. 
Had to retreat to McMinnville owing to large number of prison- 
ers to be guarded. Loss 16 or 18 killed, 25 or 30 wounded." 

* Official Records, vol. xvi. part i. p. 809. 
93 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

The Federal General Crittenden says that " at daylight, Forrest 
with 2500 cavalry surrounded and captured the pickets without 
firing a gun ; rushed at full speed into the camp of the Seventh 
Pennsylvania, into the court-house square, and into the streets of 
the town. Passing through the cavalry camp, they attacked the 
Ninth Michigan, which was ready to receive them. Severe fight- 
ing at this point resulted in driving the enemy back some three 
hundred yards after repeated assaults, both sides losing heavily. 
Colonel Dufiield, commanding the Twenty-third brigade, was se- 
verely wounded. Lieutenant-Colonel Parkhurst, after nearly eight 
hours of battle, surrendered. This fragment of the regiment 
fought splendidly, and deserves honorable mention. With a few 
men that I had I held my headquarters until the court-house 
was taken, when I surrendered." 

Immediately upon the surrender of the last detachment of the 
Federals, between three and four o'clock, Forrest gathered his 
prisoners and captured property together, and started at once in 
the direction of McMinnville, camping for the night nine miles 
east of Murfreesborough. Before leaving he destroyed the depots 
containing all government supplies which could not be transport- 
ed and the railroad bridges in this immediate vicinity. On the 
following day, the 14th, the prisoners were placed in charge of an 
escort commanded by Colonel Wharton, who, although suffering 
from the wound received in the action of the 13th, was still able 
to keep his saddle and attend to the lighter duties assigned him. 
On the night of the 14th the entire command reached McMinn- 
ville. Here the prisoners and non - commissioned ofificers were 
paroled, while the commissioned ofificers were sent to Knoxville 
to be held for exchange. 

Naturally the sudden advent of the Confederates in middle 
Tennessee and the capture of such a formidable garrison as that 
at Murfreesborough, by a command in general badly armed and 
equipped, and without artillery, created considerable excitement 
throughout the country, and a very general consternation and 
anxiety among the Federal commanders of neighboring posts and 
their troops. It is a matter of surprise that no greater precau- 
tions were taken on the part of the Federals to prevent this dis- 
aster. It will, however, be remembered that this event took place 
comparatively early in the war and was the first great foray made 

94 



MURFREESBOROUGH APPREHENDED 

by any Confederate commander within the Union lines. Later 
on the lesson of misfortune bore fruit, and it came to be a rare 
occurrence for a camp, however small, to be taken unawares. 

That the possibility of such invasion had been in the minds of 
some of the Federal officers is evident from the despatches about 
this date which may be found in the official records.* On June 8, 
1862, Major- General O. M. Mitchel, from Huntsville, Alabama, 
despatched General Buell that Colonel Lester at Murfreesborough 
had informed him that 1000 of the enemy were eight miles south 
of McMinnville and might attack him. Mitchel adds: "I do 
not know what reliance ought to be placed on these reports. 
One thing is certain, that region ought now to be strongly oc- 
cupied " ; and this careful officer again emphasized his apprehen- 
sion of attack on June 24th in a despatch to General Buell in 
which he says : " It is possible the enemy's cavalry crossing oppo- 
site Chattanooga might pass the mountains to McMinnville for a 
raid on Wartrace and Murfreesborough. I have directed the 
commanding officer to be ready." f 

From the manner in which the surprise was effected it is evi- 
dent that the warning of his superior was not fully appreciated by 
acting Brigadier-General Duffield. Moreover, as late as the 12th 
of July, the day preceding the attack, Buell wired Halleck that a 
heavy cavalry force was being thrown across the Tennessee River 
to operate in middle Tennessee. X Duffield was advised again to 
take every precaution, and to build a stockade for the protection 
of every bridge in his jurisdiction. § 

Three days prior to the attack the Federal authorities were the 
recipients of a rather mysterious telegram signed by Stanley 
Matthews, but sent in a spirit of sheer bravado by another bold 
raider. The guilty person in this instance was none other than 
the distinguished Colonel John H. Morgan, who about the time 
that Forrest was starting for middle Tennessee had gone on a 
raid of his own into his native land of Kentucky. Morgan carried 
with him a very daring and expert telegraph operator, George A. 
Elsworth, who bore the fitting nickname of " Lightning." On 
the loth of July, Elsworth cut the wire about one and a half 

* Official Records, vol. x. part ii, p. 275. t Ibid. vol. xvi. part ii. p. 58. 
\ Ibid. vol. xvi. part ii. p. 127. § Ibid. vol. xvi. part ii. p. 130. 

95 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

miles below Horse Cave, on the Louisville and Nashville railroad, 
inserted his instrument, and began to inform his commander of 
the various events which were passing over the wire. When 
about to close, Morgan, who was sitting at his side, dictated to 
him and he immediately sent the following prophetic despatch : 

" Nashville, Tennessee, yw/^ lo, 1862. 
"To Henry Dent, Provost Marshal, Louisville, Kentucky, — General For- 
rest attacked Murfreesborough, routing our forces, and is now moving on 
Nashville. Inform general commanding. 

" Stanley Matthews, Provost Marshal."* 

As had been expected, one of the immediate results of For- 
rest's raid was a rapid concentration of troops in this direction 
to protect the various Federal stations and at the same time to 
drive him back across the Tennessee. This movement began 
at once and relieved the Confederate army in northern Mis- 
sissippi of the great pressure which was being brought to bear 
on it at that time by the Federal commander. As soon as 
Buell, whose headquarters were at Huntsville, Alabama, received 
information of the disaster on the night of the 13th, he tele- 
graphed to Major-General McCook to move with his division 
at once to Columbia, adding that a large force of rebel cavalry 
had attacked Murfreesborough, and was threatening the Franklin 
and Columbia bridges. Colonel Miller, commanding at Nashville, 
wired Buell that Murfreesborough was captured, and that he had 
recalled all the troops from Lebanon, had every man under arms, 
and had strong pickets out and patrols on all the roads. Buell 
answered: "Reinforcements are moving forward and will reach 
Nashville to-morrow." General Buell further despatched General 
William Nelson, at Athens, Alabama, that the troops had been 
surprised and defeated, and Nelson's command was at once on 
the march. On the 15th of July, Buell despatched Halleck: "The 
worst feature of Forrest's attack was the interruption of the Chat- 
tanooga railroad, just completed." He says : " I had taken the 
precaution to place some twelve regiments on that route until it 
should be securely established. A large portion of the 50,000 ra- 
tions of forage forwarded to Murfreesborough have been captured 

* Official Records, vol. xvi. part ii. p. 775. 
96 




"'^^^ 



CAl'TAliN KiaiiEN K. ROiiS 



COMPLETE SUCCESS AT M U RFREES BO ROUG H 

or burned." He regarded the whole affair as most disgraceful 
and demanding prompt and vigorous treatment. " It has caused 
serious delay in the means of supplying the army so that it can 
move on the Decatur route. The force was more than sufificient 
to repel the attack. Take it in all its features, few more disgrace- 
ful examples can be found in the history of our war." He also 
wired General George H. Thomas, who was at Tuscumbia, Ala- 
bama, " to move with all rapidity to Florence and Athens and on 
to Murfreesborough. I deem it of very great importance that you 
should get across the river at the earliest possible moment. Send 
one of your brigades forward without delay to cross at Decatur. 
Cross everything you have at Eastport at once. Endeavor to get 
your trains across at all points before Grant's troops come up, so 
that no time may be lost after their arrival."* 

Being well informed of the rapid concentration of heavy forces 
for the purpose of destroying his command, a more timid leader 
than Forrest would have justified himself in resting upon his 
laurels and retiring his command in safety to the neighborhood 
of Chattanooga, under the protection of the infantry there. But 
the hardy cavalryman was on his native heath, was born almost 
within sight of Murfreesborough, and he had no notion of leaving 
Tennessee until he was driven out by main force. In fact, that 
quality of caution born of timidity had neither lot nor part in his 
sturdy nature. If it had been otherwise the chances are that the 
success at Murfreesborough would have been only partial. To 
have captured a brigadier-general and the troops forming his 
guards in sight of two large bodies of well-equipped infantry, and 
the liberation of a large number of imprisoned Confederates, might 
have satisfied a less energetic soldier, but there was so much of the 
bull-dog in this man's nature that he would not let loose and was 
not satisfied until everything was his. And so at Murfreesborough 
he refused to listen to the suggestions of his officers to leave the 
infantry alone and retire with the property and the prisoners they 
had already captured. He said : " I did not come here to make 
half a job of it ; I'm going to have them all." While resting at 
McMinnville, the trusted scouts sent out in various directions 
for the purpose of obtaining the necessary information for his 

* Official Records, vol. xvi. part ii. p. 175. 
O • 97 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

future enterprises returned, and on the i8th of July he started at 
the head of a detachment of his command in the direction of 
Lebanon. On the 20th, arriving near this town, he found the 
quarry had been flushed, for, apprised of his advance, the Federals 
had scurried away for shelter behind the ramparts of Nashville. 
From Lebanon he followed them as they retired in this direction. 
Four miles from Nashville he came upon a detachment, about 
twenty in number, who, protected by a strong stockade, were 
guarding a railroad bridge over Mill Creek. This time he was 
not without cannon, and stockades, however well constructed, 
could soon be battered down by artillery. He so convinced the 
garrison that this would be the result that they surrendered, and 
the bridge was forthwith destroyed. Moving still farther around 
the city and in sight of the capitol on this same date, his advance- 
guard, composed of the Eighth Texas, had a lively encounter with 
a second detachment of the Union troops at Antioch station. 
These also surrendered after some resistance, and the depot, filled 
with government supplies, was destroyed and all the rolling stock 
there burned. Farther down on the road towards Murfreesbor- 
ough on this same day another bridge was destroyed. 

Major-General Nelson had already informed General Buell that 
" Forrest had returned, but in three days he would take the field 
and try to clear him out of the country." On July 22d Colonel 
John F. Miller, commanding at Nashville, telegraphed Buell that 
" Colonel Forrest, with a force variously reported from twelve 
hundred to four thousand strong, advanced yesterday from Leba- 
non within eight miles of this city, marched across the Mill Creek, 
destroyed three bridges, took eighty prisoners, killed two and 
wounded one of the Second Kentucky Volunteers. Enemy's loss 
reported, twenty killed and wounded. He took the prisoners on 
Murfreesborough road twelve miles from this place, camped, pa- 
roled the prisoners this morning, and then marched to Murfrees- 
borough to capture wagon-trains with 360 of the Thirty-sixth 
Indiana, who left here yesterday morning," 

So desirous was our new brigadier-general (for his commission 
was dated July 21st) to let Colonel Miller know he was still in the 
country, he sent him a polite note to this effect, adding that if 
he didn't believe it and would come out he would give him a warm 
reception. Colonel Miller was not afraid, but he had orders to 

98 



NELSON COMMANDED TO DESTROY FORREST 

hold Nashville, and he stayed there and held it. General Nelson, 
on the 24th of July, from Murfreesborough, reported that on the 
2 1st Forrest was within five miles of Nashville burning bridges and 
trestle-work. " I determined to cut off Forrest's retreat, but before 
marching a courier came to me from Franklin, bringing a despatch 
that Forrest with twenty-five hundred or three thousand men was 
at Nashville. Forrest escaped. The eighty men that were guard- 
ing the bridge that was burned are lost, three of them killed and 
the rest taken. They were of the Second Kentucky. That regi- 
ment is much reduced since leaving Athens ; three were killed and 
forty-eight wounded on the railroad, eighty-one taken prisoners, 
making a loss of six killed and one hundred and twenty-nine lost 
by death and prisoners. I will have about twelve hundred cavalry, 
and Mr. Forrest shall have no rest. I will hunt him myself." * 

Instead of permitting himself to be cut off or whipped by Gen- 
eral Nelson, " Mr. Forrest," leaving the main road as the Union com- 
mander approached, hastened across the country with his troops, 
and paid his respects on the 27th of July to General W. Sooy 
Smith, who was then in command at Manchester. He wired 
General Buell from Manchester that day: "Forrest appeared be- 
fore me and made a successful dash on one of my reconnoitring 
parties, killed three and captured fifteen men." Later on, in the 
campaign of 1864, in Mississippi, Forrest and Smith met again, to 
the great and lasting discomfiture of the latter. Under the per- 
sistent prodding of his superior, General Buell, Nelson was kept 
busy in the effort to hunt Forrest down. It was a game of hide- 
and-seek, in which the cavalry leader was hard to beat. Buell re- 
iterated his despatch: " Destroy Forrest if you can." In spite of 
the hot weather and the seeming hopelessness of his task. Nelson, 
with commendable persistence, chased to and fro across middle 
Tennessee in a vain effort to come up with the Confederates. On 
July 30th he gave it up. He telegraphed to Buell on this date 
that " with infantry in this hot weather it is a hopeless task to 
chase Forrest's command mounted on race-horses." Still came 
from Buell the watchword, "Destroy him if you can," and still 
the clouds of disappointment hung over Nelson. In a despatch 
from McMinnville he says : " The condition of the country is as 

* Official Records, vol. xvi. part i. p. 815. 
99 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

bad as possible. It is in arms almost to a man. Bragg's army is 
expected. Three wagons have been cut off close to camp ; patrol 
fired on, four killed ; two other sentries shot. Forrest himself is 
here at Sparta with twenty-five hundred men. Sent a regiment of 
cavalry out yesterday to attract his attention." And promptly, on 
the 15th of August, Forrest was attracted, for he moved out from 
Sparta, swooped around his pursuers, and went in the direction of 
Murfreesborough, which place was now again heavily garrisoned 
by the Union forces. Turning towards McMinnville, he followed 
the branch of the railroad leading to this place, destroying all the 
bridges and tearing up the track. Once more the Federal posts 
commanders in the region round about had the wires hot with 
despatches. Some inquired where Forrest was when last heard 
from, and others contained the information that " Forrest may be 
expected." In doleful vein General Buell despatched to Miller at 
Nashville: "Our guards are gathered up by the enemy as easily 
as he would herd cattle. One resolute company properly stock- 
aded could defy Forrest's whole force." * 

On the 1 8th of August, Buell wired that "Forrest is certainly 
at Nashville. Troops cannot safely cross." On the 26th he wired 
General Hazen : " Endeavor to assure yourself whether Forrest 
has any infantry with him." On August 27th, General Thomas 
had heard that " the train of the Fourth Division was captured by 
Forrest yesterday," and on the 28th he wired Buell : " I have sent 
a brigade after Forrest, who is at Woodbury with something over 
one thousand men." 

In the mean time, Forrest, duly informed of the various columns 
marching to hem him in, and knowing also that General Bragg with 
a heavy infantry force had already crossed the Tennessee River 
at Chattanooga and was moving towards Altamont, determined 
without delay to proceed to this latter place and there await the 
advance-guard of the infantry column. Although he moved with 
his usual celerity, he was too late to escape an additional body 
of Union troops, who, under the active leadership of General 
McCook, had headed him off and was then in possession of Al- 
tamont. However dif^cult and dangerous the predicament in 
which he found himself, Forrest was not slow in deciding what 

* Official Records, vol. xvi. part ii. p. 340. 
100 



J 



EFFORTS TO HEM HIM IN 

w?.-. to be done. He knew that a brigade which had been rushed 
forward by General Thomas was close behind him, coming from 
the direction of Murfreesborough. There was but one route left 
for escape ; this he followed. Throwing his scouts well in ad- 
vance, and with flankers on either side to prevent the possibility 
of a surprise by ambush or collision with an enemy too large for 
him to engage in battle, he had advanced only a few miles when 
his videttes came rushing back with the information that they 
had just encountered a considerable force of infantry not more 
than half a mile ahead, and that these were advancing immedi- 
ately upon them. Fortunately he received this information be- 
fore the main body of his command had been discovered by the 
Federals. If the roads were all filled with soldiers in pursuit of 
him, Forrest concluded there was plenty of room in the woods, 
and straightway he took to the brush with his entire command, 
successfully concealing them within a half-mile of the route along 
which the Federal infantry soon passed, little suspecting that their 
wily adversary was closely observing them at such short range. 
The rear-guard of this column had scarcely passed his place of 
concealment when he again led his men into the road and re- 
sumed the march which had been so unceremoniously interrupted. 
Forrest was, however, not yet out of danger. Being compelled to 
pass near McMinnville, it was his intention to make a detour 
around this heavily garrisoned town. To accomplish this, when 
about eight miles from the village he turned from the main 
thoroughfare into a by-way or country road which was ordinarily 
but little travelled. Unfortunately he had not cleared the main 
road when a heavy column of Federal infantry came in sight, 
which, deploying, at once opened upon his troops with artillery 
and small arms as they were moving with all possible rapidity. 
No effort at resistance was made by the Confederate commander, 
who promptly put his troops in rapid retreat. He, with one-half 
of the command, had already passed from the main road, and 
these continued at full speed in that direction. That portion which 
had been cut ofi by the Federal attack turned about, scampered 
away in the opposite direction, and was soon out of danger. Cut- 
ting across the country, before sundown these had rejoined the 
main column under Forrest. Not a man was captured or even 
wounded in this attack, the only loss the Confederates suffered 

ioi 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

being one light spring-wagon and some dozen horses and mules, 
which were being led with the command. 

General Thomas, speaking of this affair, said : " Yesterday I 
learned that Forrest's command was three miles west of my camp, 
going northward. I sent our three regiments to cut him off. 
About one -half of his command had passed when we arrived. 
Fyffe opened with shell and musketry, and captured a number of 
horses and mules and a light spring-wagon. His force numbered 
between fourteen and fifteen hundred men."* 

It will be observed that this official report does not mention the 
capture of one of Forrest's troopers. 

On the 3d of September, Forrest reached the advance-guard of 
General Bragg's army of invasion at Sparta, bringing with him in 
safety his "pets" — the four pieces of artillery he had captured at 
Murfreesborough — and his entire command, excepting those lost 
in battle or broken down and rendered unfit for service by the 
long and arduous marches. 

At Sparta our cavalryman was greatly pleased to know that the 
four Alabama companies of his old regiment under Captain Bacot 
had been permitted to rejoin his command, and that he was to be 
allowed also to keep a section of the artillery he had captured. 
Reporting here to Major-General Braxton Bragg, then in command 
of the Confederate army of invasion, he was directed to move for- 
ward in the line of advance of the Union army under General 
Buell, and to harass and impede his progress as much as possible. 
Moving again towards Murfreesborough, the Federals rapidly re- 
treated, and the place was once more occupied by the Southern 
troops. Pressing after them towards Nashville, Forrest crossed the 
Cumberland River a few miles from this city, and was in almost 
constant conflict with the rear-guard and flankers of Buell's army. 

Finding that his section of artillery would be of great service in 
retarding Buell's advance, with his usual audacity he pushed his 
guns in such proxim.ity to the Federal infantry that they were often 
compelled to deploy in line of battle and advance in order to drive 
him away. This was exactly what Forrest wished to accomplish, 
for the more they formed in line the greater would be the delay in 
their march towards Louisville, and Bragg would have that much 

* Official Records, vol. xvi. part i. p. 900. 
102 



AIDS POLK AT MUNFORDVILLE 

the better start in the race. By the 8th of September his army 
had advanced into southern Kentucky, and on the loth of that 
month Forrest arrived at Glasgow with his cavalry. At this place 
he was temporarily attached to the division of the Confederate 
army commanded by General Leonidas Polk, and, under orders 
of this oflficer, pushed his command beyond Munfordville on the 
Elizabethtown and Bardstown road. In this movement he threw 
himself between the Federals in Munfordville and their only av- 
enue of escape, and, together with the rapid advance of the 
Confederate infantry converging towards this stronghold, contrib- 
uted largely to the capture of a brigade of infantry which surren- 
dered on the 17th of September. This accomplished, Forrest 
proceeded along the line of the Louisville and Nashville railroad 
destroying bridges, capturing Federal outposts, and reporting ulti' 
mately at Bardstown to General Polk. At this place he received 
a letter asking him to report immediately in person to the head- 
quarters of General Bragg. And here, on the last day of September 
he was directed to turn over the brigade which he had organized 
at Chattanooga, and had thoroughly armed and equipped by capt- 
ures from the enemy, to Colonel John A. Wharton, of the Texas 
Rangers, and to proceed at once and establish headquarters at Mur- 
freesborough and undertake the organization of another brigade 
for his own service. At his earnest entreaty he was allowed to 
take with him the four Alabama companies of the " Old Regi- 
ment," which had served with him at Sacramento, Fort Donelson 
and Shiloh. With these and his staff he marched away to his re- 
cruiting camp. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE RAID INTO WEST TENNESSEE, DECEMBER, 1 862 

General Forrest Establishes His Recruiting Bureau at Murfreesborough— Organizes the 
Famous Forrest Brigade — Ordered to Columbia, and thence into West Tennessee 
—Appeals to Bragg for Arms and Ammunition— Is Told that there are None for 
Him; He Must Go into Tennessee as He Is— Forrest and His Command Cro>,s 
the Tennessee River near Clifton, December 17th— Captures Union Citizens and 
Negroes— Drills His Command as Infantry in their Presence— Permits the Captives 
to Escape; in this Way Spreads the Rumor Throughout the Country that He Has 
a Large Command of Infantry with Him— Fight at Lexington— Captain Frank H. 
Gurley's Charge and Capture of a Section of Artillery— Capture of Colonel Robert 
G. Ingersoll— Narrative of the Death of General Robert L. M cCook— Forrest Pur- 
sues the Federals to Jackson, and Makes a Feint on that Stronghold— Destroys the 
Railroad South of Jackson and then Marches North— Capture of Humboldt by the 
Gallant Starnes — Forrest Takes Trenton and Its Garrison — Dibrell Repulsed at 
Forked Deer— Colonel A. A. Russell, at the Head of the Fourth Alabama, Defeats 
the Federals at Spring Creek— Union City Surrenders with Its Garrison— Forrest 
Reaches Kentucky— Complete Destruction of the Railroads in West Tennessee- 
Terrible Experience in the Obion Bottoms— A Bit of Strategy which Did Not Suc- 
ceed—The Battle of Parker's Cross- Roads— Statement of Sergeant Nat Baxter, Jr.— 
Capture of All the Federal Artillery— Forrest Extricates His Command and Re- 
crosses the Tennessee River on the Following Day — Back at Columbia. 

DURING the first week of October, 1862, General Forrest 
established the headquarters of his recruiting bureau at 
Murfreesborough, the scene of his recent brilliant exploit. 
Concealing the disappointment and indignation which he keenly 
felt at having the brigade he had recently organized and equipped, 
and by a severe and successful campaign had transformed into vet- 
erans full of confidence in their chief and ready to follow him in 
any enterprise, taken from him and given to another officer, he 
applied himself with diligence to the task in hand. The ruling 
spirit in this man was devotion to the cause of the South in its 
struggle to establish an independent confederation. With abso- 
lute unselfishness and with earnestness of purpose he gave not 
only his private fortune but untiring energy, and for the ultimate 
success he would have cheerfully given the life which he risked 

104 



ORGANIZES THE FORREST BRIGADE 

on so many notable occasions. He was now so well known as 
a dashing cavalry leader, and so popular with all classes in the 
middle Southern States, that he had little difficulty in gathering 
about him within six weeks of the time he had located at Mur- 
freesborough a very formidable body of mounted men. Many of 
these were Tennesseeans, enlisting from the middle counties of 
that State, and not a few were natives of Bedford and Marshall 
counties, almost in sight of the spot where Forrest was born and 
had spent his boyhood. Among others there joined him here a 
man of great ability and courage who earlier in the war, quitting 
the peaceful practice of medicine, had organized a company of 
Tennesseeans and had volunteered to accompany him in the scout- 
ing expedition which culminated in the brilliant affair at Sacra- 
mento, Kentucky, in December, 1861. This man was James W. 
Starnes, who signally distinguished himself on that occasion and 
had won the lasting regard and friendship of Forrest, a friendship 
which endured until at TuUahoma, in 1863, the leaden messenger 
of death brought to an untimely end a career full of the promise 
of great deeds in war. A new regiment was now organized with 
Starnes as colonel, and took its place with Forrest as the Fourth 
Tennessee Cavalry ; it was destined to become famous and to 
sustain throughout the war the reputation it was soon to win 
west of the Tennessee, ending its career in a blaze of glory in a 
brilliant charge at Bentonville, North Carolina, in the last pitched 
battle of the Civil War. Scarcely less famous were two oth- 
er regiments of Tennessee troops organized at this time — the 
Eighth, under Colonel George G. Dibrell, of which Jeffrey E. 
Forrest, the youngest brother of the general, was elected major, 
and the Ninth, under Colonel J. B. Bififle. These three regiments 
of Tennessee troops, with the Fourth Alabama Cavalry, under 
Colonel A. A. Russell, with one battery of artillery, under Cap- 
tain Freeman and Lieutenant John W. Morton, were organized 
into a brigade, to which Forrest was assigned as command- 
ing officer. At this time General Joseph Wheeler had been pro- 
moted to the chief command of the cavalry in that department, 
and Forrest, being thus relieved, was ordered to march to Colum- 
bia, in Murray County, preparatory to being sent to break up the 
enemy's communications and to make a diversion in the rear of 
Grant's army in northern Mississippi and west Tennessee. Rus- 

105 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

sell's Fourth Alabama,* as it was afterwards known, was a mixed 
organization of veterans and new troops. Four companies of 
this regiment had volunteered early in the war and had formed a 
part of Forrest's original battalion, had served with him at Sacra- 
mento, had escaped with him at Fort Donelson, and were with 
him at Shiloh and Monterey. After persistent entreaty they had 
been permitted to join their old commander again, and now 
formed the nucleus to which six other companies of recent Ala- 
bama volunteers were added. This regiment greatly distinguish- 
ed itself under their brave colonel, and was especially compli- 
mented in the ofificial report of General Forrest after his return 
from the arduous campaign in the winter of 1862-63. About 
one-half of the men of this command, which took position at 
Columbia the first week in December, 1862, had no other arms 
than shot-guns and squirrel rifles which they had brought with 
them from home. Many of the army weapons issued to them 
were of ancient pattern and not efficient as compared with those 
in the Union ranks. Dibrell's regiment alone had 400 flintlock 
muskets.f Forrest made application to Bragg for proper guns 
and equipments, but the Confederacy was too poor at that time to 
furnish them. The brigade which he organized earlier in this 
year at Chattanooga he had thoroughly equipped at the expense 
of the enemy, v.^ho even furnished his artillery, and now he was 
told that he must do practically the same thing with this, his 
third new command, and that in west Tennessee he would prob- 
ably find the material he so much needed. Arms or no arms. 
General Bragg informed him that he was expected to march into 
that territory at a very early date, and must prepare for his expe- 
dition. Though these difficulties embarrassed, they did not dis- 
courage him. Forrest appreciated fully the dangerous character 
of the work he was now called upon to perform. He was to cross 
a large river three-fourths of a mile in width, the fifth in magni- 
tude in the United States. Its western shore was picketed by 
the cavalry of a brave and vigilant army. This river, the Ten- 
nessee, in its upward sweep from northern Alabama to pour its 
waters into the Ohio, flows nearly due north, cutting the State of 

* As distinguished from Roddy's Fourth Alabama. 
t Official Records, vol. xvii. part i. p. 598. 
106 




COLONEL A. A. RUSSELL 

Russell's Fourth Alabama Cavalry. Commanding Brigade 

(From a photograph taken after the war) 



INVADING WEST TENNESSEE 

Tennessee abruptly in twain. This fragment of the State has the 
Mississippi River as its westerly boundary and the Tennessee on 
the east. On the north is Kentucky and the Ohio, to the south, 
from Memphis to Corinth, stretched the mighty and victorious 
army of Grant. Once in this territory, swarming with the soldiers 
of the Union, well armed and equipped, there could be no escape 
except by recrossing the Tennessee. This navigable stream was 
being patrolled by a fleet of gunboats for no other purpose than 
to prevent incursions from the east, and in case any such were 
made, and the invaders once were in the trap, to prevent the 
possibility of escape. 

On the 1 8th of December, 1862, General U. S. Grant* de- 
spatched to Admiral Porter: "There is now four feet of water in 
the Tennessee River, and gunboats there would be of immense 
value." To this he received a reply signed by A. M. Pennock, 
that " five gunboats had gone into the Tennessee .River service 
on the 15th inst. They draw three feet of water." On December 
15th, General G. M. Dodge wired General J. C. Sullivan: "The 
Tennessee has risen two feet, and there is plenty of water there." 

Once well inside of this isolated territory, with vigilance on the 
part of his adversary, Forrest knew full well that all his resources 
would be needed to extricate himself. On the loth of December 
he received orders to move, and he again appealed to his com- 
mander for guns and ammunition. The same answer came back, 
that there were none for him, he must do the best he could and go 
on. He had already sent a detachment of his best troops, with 
some workmen, and had constructed two small flat-boats for the 
purpose of ferrying his men and horses across. These were con- 
cealed in the neighborhood of Clifton, in a slough or narrow sub- 
division of the river on the east side of an island, and here, on the 
15th of this month, he arrived with his command of 2100 menf 

* Official Records, vol. xvii. part ii. p. 426. 

t The troops under Forrest were Starnes's Fourth Tennessee ; Dibrell's 
Eighth Tennessee ; Biffle's Ninth Tennessee ; and Russell's Fourth Alabama 
regiments; Cox's Tennessee battalion; Woodward's two Kentucky com- 
panies; Captain Bill Forrest's scouts, and General Forrest's escort, number- 
ing in all 2100. Napier's battalion, 400 strong, joined at Union City. So 
poorly armed and equipped were the new recruits that his effective fighting 
force was not over 1 500. 

107 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

and Freeman's battery of seven pieces. The work of crossing 
the river was immediately begun. The command was kept well 
back from the banks, out of sight of any gunboats that might pass. 
A long line of sentries was placed up and down the river from 
this position at a sufificient distance to enable them to repeat the 
signals to each other and to notify their commander when any of 
the patrol gunboats were approaching. The work of crossing was 
done mostly at night. Each boat could carry not more than 
twenty-five men and horses at a single trip. When the gunboats 
were signalled, the ferryboats immediately put back to shore, 
and run in behind the island, where they could not be observed. 
By the 17th the command was successfully across the river, but 
not without the knowledge of the enemy. That wily soldier, 
Major-General W. T. Sherman, on this date reported that "a boat 
from above, just in, reports a rebel force crossing the Tennessee 
from the east towards the west at Clifton," and with foresight 
adds, " I rather suspect it is the design to draw us back from our 
purpose of going to Vicksburg."'^ 

General Grant telegraphed to the War Department at Washing- 
ton : " I had timely notice of the advance of Forrest on the road, 
in the neighborhood of Jackson, and took every means to meet it. 
General Sullivan was reinforced from the army with me, and forces 
from Corinth, Forts Heiman, Henry, and Donelson sent to co- 
operate." f 

Having consumed considerable time in crossing his men, horses, 
and artillery, carrying the horses over in the boats in order not to 
endanger their usefulness by the extra exposure which would re- 
sult in swimming them across a wide stream, icy cold at this sea- 
son of the year, the real business of the expedition was at once 
taken up. There was now no time for taking extra care of horses 
or men. The work in hand was dangerous and must be done 
quickly, and the more rapid the execution the less danger of a 
concentration of troops in sufificient number to prevent him from 
recrossing the Tennessee. 

Forrest's first stratagem was to cause to be spread throughout 
the country the rumor that he had with him a very large number 

* Official Records, vol. xvii. part ii. p. 426. 
\ Ibid. vol. xvii. part i. p. 477. 
108 



CAPTURES COLONEL INGERSOLL 

of troops. The game of " brag and bluff " this crafty warrior often 
played, and it served him a good purpose on this as well as on 
many other expeditions. He carried a number of kettle-drums 
with his troops, and kept them going, to convey the impression 
that infantry accompanied him. 

Colonel Robert G. Ingersoll, of the Eleventh Illinois Cavalry, 
reporting through his commanding-ofificer to General U. S. Grant, 
on December i8th, says: "At noon yesterday 30CK) infantry, 800 
cavalry, and six pieces had crossed and were still crossing the 
Tennessee at Wright's Island." On the same date General U. S. 
Grant wired Admiral Porter that " Forrest and Napier are now on 
this side of the river with from five to ten thousand men." 

On this date also. General Jeremiah C. Sullivan, from Jackson, 
telegraphed General Grant : " My cavalry was whipped at Lexing- 
ton to-day. Colonel Ingersoll taken prisoner. The enemy re- 
ported to be from ten to twenty thousand." On the next day 
he is informed that " the enemy are advancing in force, and the 
station on Columbus [road], eight miles from here [Jackson], was 
attacked at daylight and the station - house burned, the guard 
of eighty- seven men captured, and road at switch destroyed." 
A few moments later news from Corinth road was received that 
the bridges twelve miles south were burned and a large force had 
crossed, going towards railroad leading to Bolivar. " Cheatham's 
brigade [infantry] is on this side, and Napier's also." 

On the 19th of December the commander-in-chief says: "I 
have reinforced Sullivan to the full extent of the capacity of the 
road to carry troops, partly from Columbus, partly from Corinth, 
one brigade from here [Oxford], and troops from Jackson. Lowe 
is also moving from Heiman. I think the enemy must be annihi- 
lated, but it may trouble, and possibly lead to the necessity of 
sending further forces from here." * 

January 9, 1863, Brigadier- General Thomas A. Davies, com- 
manding at Columbus, telegraphed to Colonel John A. Rawlins: 
" I had what I supposed was reliable information that Forrest 
had 7000 men and ten pieces of artillery, and was backed by a 
heavy infantry force. I ordered General Curtis to send General 
Fisk's brigade to reinforce me at Columbus." 

* Official Records, vol. xvii. part ii. p. 436. 
109 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

Here, in truth, were signs of concentration as well as relief for 
the sorely pressed Confederates in Mississippi. He says in this 
same despatch : " IngersoU's cavalry had an engagement with them 
yesterday at Lexington and were defeated. Two pieces of artil- 
lery fell into the hands of the enemy." * This engagement oc- 
curred on the morning of the i8th of December. Forrest, after 
crossing on the i/th, encamped eight miles west of the river that 
night. On the morning of the i8th, advancing in the direction 
of Lexington, when near that place the Confederates came in con- 
tact with some Union cavalry and a section of artillery. This 
cavalry and artillery were under the command of our distin- 
guished countryman. Colonel Robert G. Ingersoll, the famous 
lawyer and lecturer. He had arrived on the 17th at Lexington, 
where he was joined by Colonel Hawkins, of the Second West 
Tennessee Cavalry, with about two hundred and seventy -two 
men. At noon he marched to Beech Creek, five miles from 
Lexington. Proceeding farther east, he was joined by Captain 
O'Hara with sixty-eight men additional, who reported that the 
Confederates, at least a thousand strong, were advancing upon 
them.f He at once ordered his advance-guard to retire slowly, 
and at the same time withdrew his command to the crossing of 
Beech Creek, near Lexington. Here, just at night, he was joined 
by 200 troops of the Fifth Ohio, under Adjutant Harrison, and on 
the 1 8th, early in the morning, was attacked in this position. 

At break of day Captain Frank B. Gurley, of the Fourth Ala- 
bama, was ordered by General Forrest to select twenty men of 
his company and take the advance on the Lexington road and drive 
in the enemy's pickets as soon as encountered, promising him 
that the remaining companies of this regiment would follow in 
close order and would reinforce him as might be necessary. 

Advancing about two miles, Gurley found the enemy in line, 
and, after a slight skirmish, they fell back to the creek, leaving one 
or two of their wounded, who were captured. At Beech Creek 
the Second West Tennessee Cavalry was drawn up in line of battle 
upon the opposite bank. The bridge over this stream had been 
rendered impassable by the Federals, who had thrown the planks 

* Official Records, vol. xvii. part ii. p. 436. 
t Ibid. vol. vii. part i. p. 553. 
no 




CAPTAIN 1-KANK I!. GURI.EY 
Kussell's Fcurtli Alabama Cavain' 



THE GALLANT CAPTAIN GURLEY 

which formed the floor into the water. The advance of the Con- 
federates, now reinforced by the other companies of Russell's regi- 
ment, dismounted and charged up to the creek, and by a heavy 
and well-directed fire drove back Colonel Hawkins and his Sec- 
ond West Tennessee regiment. Quickly relaying the floor of the 
bridge with fence-rails which were near at hand, after a delay of 
not more than twenty minutes Gurley's command passed safely 
over. This short delay, however, gave Colonel Ingersoll time 
enough to form his troops where they were well protected in the 
edge of some timber just over the crest of a hill. Here the Fed- 
erals fought stubbornly, but were finally driven back, with consid- 
erable loss on both sides. The Confederates continuing to advance, 
and arriving in the immediate vicinity of Lexington, found a sec- 
tion of artillery so posted as to command the route by which they 
were approaching. Behind the guns was a strong body of cavalry. 
As the Fourth Alabama came up they were subjected to a sharp fire 
from the two guns in front as well as the small arms immediately 
defending the pieces. Seeing at a glance the folly of a direct as- 
sault from the front, Gurley quickly swung to the right, taking 
advantage of a depression or ravine which would enable his column 
to advance within one hundred yards of the pieces before they 
would be brought under fire. Giving the command, and with his 
squadron in advance, followed by the Fourth Alabama, Captain 
Gurley charged at full speed upon the two guns and the Second 
West Tennessee, the Eleventh Illinois, and the Fifth Ohio, which 
formed the bulk of the troops under Colonel Ingersoll. 

Captain Gurley* says: "The gunners stood by their guns and 

* Captain Gurley's gallant conduct in this campaign attracted the atten- 
tion of General Forrest. He not only mentioned him in his report, as de- 
serving great credit, but, as a token of appreciation for meritorious services 
, on two occasions, he presented him with a fine horse and a pair of pistols. 
A few months prior this same officer, in a skirmish near Huntsville, in 
northern Alabama, mortally wounded and captured General Robert L. Mc- 
Cook. The report of this occurrence given in the official records reflects un- 
justly upon the reputation of Captain Gurley as a man and soldier. The facts 
connected with it are here correctly given : 
I With his own and a part of Hambrick's company, of Russell's regiment, 
sixty men in all, he had been despatched for special duty upon the enemy's 
communication in northern Alabama. Having heard that a drove of beef 
cattle was coming on the Limestone road from Athens, Alabama, to Win- 

III 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

died like soldiers. The last shot was fired just as we reached the 
battery, and my first sergeant, J. L. P. Kelly, and his horse were 
blown to atoms by the explosion. With the taking of the guns 

Chester, Tennessee, he marched to intercept and capture them. Having 
reached the highway, he halted his command, leaving them in charge of Cap- 
tain Hambrick while he rode forward in order to reconnoitre. Having gone 
about a mile, just as he reached the top of a hill he discovered a body of 
Union cavalry very near and coming towards him. He immediately fired at 
them, and started to run towards his command. Seeing him pursued, his 
troops formed in line and concealed themselves in the woods near the side of 
the road. In order to decoy his pursuers into the trap, Gurley passed by his 
men and when the head of the Union column came opposite to the Confed- 
erate ambush they were stampeded by a volley fired into them at close range. 
Gurley immediately turned his horse and ordered his command to charge 
in among them. The Federals fled down the road in great disorder, with 
the Confederates in hot pursuit. The road was exceedingly dry and dusty, 
and as Gurley, at the head of his men, dashed on, he saw dimly through the 
cloud of dust that had been raised by the flying troopers a school-wagon 
drawn by two horses at a runaway pace and making desperate efforts to 
keep up w^ith the Union cavalry which had passed them in the route. 

Gurley says : " As I was coming upon them, I made out the driver and two 
other men sitting in the wagon— one an officer in full uniform and the other in 
his shirt-sleeves. I shouted to them to halt and surrender, but still the horses 
dashed down the road in the trail of their cavalry. As they did not halt I 
fired at them, as did several others of my command, who were well up with 
myself. Selecting the officer in uniform. Captain Brooke, as an important 
personage, I had fired at him three times, when at this moment the carriage 
or school-wagon ran under a peach-tree that knocked off the entire top of 
the vehicle, and not until then did the driver stop his horses, and I rode up 
beside the party. The officer in uniform remarked ' This man is shot,' refer- 
ring to the one in his shirt-sleeves, at whom I had not directed my aim. I 
noticed then that he had on the uniform pants of the Federal army. I asked 
the driver why he had not stopped his horse when ordered. The wounded 
man said that he could not stop them. I did not know then who the wound- 
ed person was, nor did I ask, for I passed immediately to the front, leaving 
them with some of my men. Some little distance farther down the road the 
cavalry, which we were still pursuing, came up with a column of infantry, 
and, turning about with this infantry, they drove us off through the woods. 
Later in the evening when I reached our rendezvous the officer at whom I 
had fired. Captain Hunter Brooke, was in the camp a prisoner, and then in- 
formed me that the man who had been wounded in the carriage was Gen- 
eral Robert L. McCook." 

It has been stated that General McCook was ill at the time, and was rid- 
ing in an ambulance. The vehicle was a school-wagon or light carriage, 

112 



INGERSOLL'S BRAVE RESISTANCE 

the cavalry gave way in a stampede, and many of them were capt- 
ured in the chase from there to Jackson." 

Colonel Ingersoll, in his report, says : *' Learning that the enemy 
were in great force on the lower road, I ordered the guns to fall 
back with all possible despatch. When I gained my new position 
on the lower road they were pouring in on us from all directions. 
At this moment the Second West Tennessee came back on the 
full run, and it was impossible to stop them." 

The Eleventh Illinois, under Colonel Ingersoll and Captain 
Burbridge, held their ground bravely until carried away by the 
Tennessee and Ohio cavalry, which fled, and then they were forced 
to yield. 

The two steel Rodman guns of the Fourteenth Indiana battery, 
under Lieutenant McGuire, were the trophies of this affair, and re- 
mained with the " Old Brigade " until the war was ended. General 
Forrest, in his official report, claims he captured two guns, one 
hundred and forty prisoners, including Colonel Ingersoll and Ma- 
much used in that section of the country before the war. It had steps and 
a door of entrance from behind, and the seats were parallel along each side. 
General McCook was not undressed, but simply had his coat off, and, as the 
weather was intensely hot, this was no indication of invalidism. He was 
sitting upright as the wagon sped along, and Captain Gurley could not have 
known that he was suffering from any indisposition. In fact, he fired at 
the other officer for the reason that he was trying to shoot the one whose 
uniform gave him an appearance of importance. 

According to the report of Colonel Van Derveer {Official Records, vol. 
xvi. part i. p. 841), the Federal troops were so enraged at the shooting of 
General McCook that " many of the soldiers spread themselves over the 
country and burned all the property of rebels in the vicinity, and shot a 
rebel lieutenant who was on furlough," etc. A year after this occurrence 
Captain Gurley was captured and tried by a Federal court-martial for the 
murder of McCook and sentenced to be hanged. The Confederate govern- 
ment intervened and prevented the execution under threat of retaliation, 
and after that he was treated as a prisoner of war. When peace was de- 
clared he was again arrested, placed in irons, and carried to Nashville, Ten- 
nessee, and imprisoned, and later on was taken to Huntsville, Alabama, 
and there kept in jail for many months. He was ultimately liberated, and 
has since been honored with a high official position by his own people. Be- 
loved and respected by all in the community where he has spent a long and 
useful life, his record is unsullied. 

The death of General McCook was much to be regretted, but under the 
:ircumstances Captain Gurley did no more than his duty as a soldier. 
H 113 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

Jor L. H. Kerr, also some seventy horses, which were badly need- 
ed, and immediately put in service in the batteries. Colonel In- 
gersoll reports eleven killed and eleven wounded, and, in addition 
to the wounded, one hundred and forty-seven prisoners — a total 
capture of one hundred and fifty-eight,* among which number 
were six officers. He further says that " the enemy were repulsed 
at first, but, coming again in overwhelming numbers, the third at- 
tack proved successful. The guns were taken, with every man 
but one. A moment after the guns were taken, I was taken pris- 
oner with one hundred and twenty-four other captures." There 
were, in addition to the officers, one hundred and forty-seven pris- 
oners captured, as shown by a careful analysis of Colonel Inger- 
soU's report, and this agrees exactly with the official account of 
these captures given by Forrest. Ingersoll says: " From all the 
information I have received the belief is that the enemy were at 
least five thousand, with eight pieces of artillery (twelve-pound- 
ers). 

On the part of the Confederates the fighting was almost wholly 
done by one section of Freeman's guns, and the companies of the 
Fourth Alabama Cavalry, which, under Gurley, captured the bat- 
tery, while the remaining portion, under the personal leadership of 
Colonel A. A. Russell, drove the Federals from the field.f For- 
rest, in his report, says : " Colonel Russell and his men deserve 
especial notice for their gallantry at Lexington. Captain Gurley, of 
the Fourth Alabama Cavalry, captured the guns, losing his orderly 
by the fire of the gun when within fifteen feet of the muzzle.":]: 

The Federal forces engaged, according to Colonel IngersoU's 
report, were, in addition to the section of two guns of Captain 
Kidd's Fourteenth Indiana battery with thirty -three effectives 
under Lieutenant McGuire, two hundred troops of the Eleventh 
Illinois, two hundred and seventy-two of the Second West Tennes- 
see, two hundred of the Fifth Ohio, and Sixty-eight cavalrymen 
under Captain O'Hara — a total of seven hundred and seventy- 
three. § The escaping Federals retreated precipitately in the di- 
rection of Jackson, and were pursued to within sight of this city 
on the evening of the i8th. The movement on Jackson was en- 

* Official Records, vol. xvii. part i. p. 563. f Ibid. p. 598. 

\ Ibid. p. 594. § Ibid. p. 555. 

114 



PURSUES FEDERALS TO JACKSON 

tirely a feint, as that town was heavily garrisoned and well forti- 
fied. He was aware of the fact that his presence on the west 
shore of the Tennessee River had been known for at least forty- 
eight hours, and that General Grant was hurrying a concentration 
of troops to defend the several lines of railroad which traversed 
this section, as well as the immense government stores which were 
in the depots of this city. As soon as he had reached the imme- 
diate vicinity of Jackson, and had driven the Union forces into 
this stronghold, the Eighth Tennessee, under Colonel G. G. Di- 
brell, was ordered to break the railroad to the north of the town. 
At ten o'clock on the night of the i8th, this officer moved rapidly 
to the north of this city, and by daylight reached the Mobile and 
Ohio railroad at Carroll station just in time to fire a volley into 
a passing train. With his troops dismounted, Dibrell immediately 
charged the stockade and captured it after feeble resistance, tak- 
ing one hundred and one prisoners, a large amount of ammuni- 
tion, stores, tents, etc.* His command at this time was very in- 
efficiently armed, four hundred of his men having no other than 
old-fashioned flintlock muskets; over one hundred of these were 
exchanged for the better arms of the captured garrison. The 
stockade was burned, as were all supplies that could not be car- 
ried off, and the railroad track for a considerable distance was 
torn up. From this successful foray Dibrell returned and re- 
joined Forrest at Spring Creek on the morning of the 20th. At 
the same time that Dibrell was ordered upon his raid to the 
north of Jackson, the Fourth Alabama and Second Tennessee 
battalion of cavalry were sent to the left and south of this city 
to destroy the bridges, culverts, and trestles on the two railroads 
leading from Jackson to Corinth and Bolivar. These troops, un- 
der Colonel Russell and Major Cox, rejoined Forrest at Spring 
Creek, some twenty- four hours later. Deeming it essential to 
hold the Union forces engaged at Jackson until Dibrell, Rus- 
sell, and Cox could accomplish the objects of these several ex- 
peditions, Forrest made a great show of assault on this place on 
the morning of the 19th. 

Colonel Adolph Engelmann, of the Forty-third Illinois Infantry, 
says: "At daybreak of the 19th the enemy advanced with heavy 

* Official Records, vol. xvii. part i. p. 598. 
"5 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

columns of cavalry on either flank, when our cavalry retired slowl}^. 
They then brought their batteries into position and opened with 
a well-directed cross-fire upon our cavalry. Our position became 
untenable, and we fell back. The enemy's artillery also got range 
of this position, and its cavalry showing itself, our own again fell 
back. At this time information was received that a large body of 
the enemy's cavalry was passing at the distance of a mile to the 
south around my right flank (Fourth Alabama and Cox's battal- 
ion). A messenger was despatched to General Sullivan, request- 
ing some troops to oppose this flank movement. At this time 
the cavalry both on my right and left flanks, weary from the hard- 
ships to which they had been exposed for the two preceding 
days, and now under fire from the enemy's battery, fell back 
about one mile towards Jackson without having first obtained any 
orders from me to that effect.* Soon after this a heavy column 
of the enemy charged upon our infantry and were repulsed." 
From this position Colonel Engelmann again retired his troops : 
" As the enemy's artillery began to tell among my men, I deter- 
mined to fall back out of the range of its shells." 

In this affair the Federal troops engaged were the Forty-third, 
Sixty-first, and Eleventh Illinois, Fifth Ohio, and one company of 
the Second West Tennessee. The Confederates had only the 
regiments of Starnes and Biffle, and Major T. G. Woodward's two 
companies of Kentuckians — about one thousand strong. The 
losses were insignificant on both sides. 

As soon as Forrest had seen the Union forces within their 
breastworks, where they were anticipating a general assault, leav- 
ing only a small line of skirmishers to keep up appearances, he 
withdrew the remnant of his command, and moved with great 
celerity to attack Trenton and Humboldt and a stockade which 
protected the railroad bridge at Forked Deer Creek. His troops 
encamped for the night of the 19th at Spring Creek, and here, 
early in the morning of the 20th, they were rejoined by Dibrell, 
Russell, and Cox, each of whom had, with complete success, 
performed the duties for which they had been sent out. Very 
early on the morning of the 20th, the entire command, with the 
exception of the Fourth Alabama, which was left at Spring 

* Official Records, vol. xvii. part i. p. 555. 
116 



CAPTURES TRENTON AND ITS GARRISON 

Creek to cover his rear, was in rapid motion to the north. There 
was now no time to be lost ; the Confederate leader had much 
to accomplish. There was an extensive territory yet to cover 
and many pursuers to avoid before he turned his face eastward 
to more peaceful surroundings. Dibrell's regiment, with two 
pieces of artillery, under Captain John W. Morton, was ordered 
to march immediately and attack the stockade at Forked Deer 
Creek and destroy the bridge. To Colonel Starnes and his Fourth 
Tennessee was allotted the capture of Humboldt, while Forrest 
in person led a third detachment to Trenton. Starnes arrived 
promptly at Humboldt, and, wasting no time for parley or flags of 
truce, charged in among the Federals, who surrendered almost as 
soon as the first gun was fired. He captured the stockade and 
over one hundred prisoners, burned the government supplies at 
this station, railroad depot, and a trestle-bridge. Colonel Jacob 
Fry, commanding, did not give in his report the number of Fed- 
eral troops at the time of the capture. He says: "The sick and 
convalescents blew up and burned the magazine, and then sur- 
rendered. The enemy burned the stores they could not carry 
away." General Forrest claims the capture of 200 prisoners, four 
caissons, with their horses, harness, etc., 500 stand of arms, and a 
large quantity of other valuable supplies. The Confederate com- 
mander was equally successful at Trenton. About three o'clock 
on the afternoon of the 20th, according to the report of the Fed- 
eral officer in command,* Forrest arrived in Trenton and imme- 
diately charged the Federal position. One detachment of the 
Union troops, as sharp-shooters, had been placed in a brick build- 
ing, which had been loop-holed for better defence. Another de- 
tachment was placed in a second building, commanding the street 
leading from another direction. Other troops were stationed in 
the breastworks and in the depot. As Forrest's skirmishers ad- 
vanced they were met with a sharp fusillade from these various 
points, which killed two and wounded seven of his men, and 
arrested his advance. Rather than expose his troops unneces- 
sarily he retired and proceeded immediately to surround the Fed- 
eral position. At this opportune moment, Biffle, with his com- 
mand, came up in the rear and completed the investment. The 

* Official Records, vol. xvii. part i. p. 561. 
117 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

artillery was immediately brought up and opened upon the stock- 
ade and houses in which the Federal sharp-shooters were con- 
cealed. At the third fire a white flag was run up, and the entire 
command immediately surrendered. The Federal commander ad- 
mits a loss of one killed, and Forrest reported the capture of 700 
prisoners, several hundred horses, and a large quantity of am- 
munition, government supplies, etc. Colonel Fry claims to have 
had "about two hundred and fifty men." He mentions a list 
of officers surrendered entirely disproportionate to so small a 
garrison, viz.: Colonel Jacob Fry, Sixty -first Illinois; Colonel 
Hawkins, Second West Tennessee ; and nine officers of the One 
Hundred and Twenty-second Illinois Infantry and Fourth Illinois 
Cavalry. 

The troops with Forrest at the time were Cox's battalion and 
his escort company under Captain Little, Freeman's battery, and 
Bififle's regiment. The Fourth Alabama had been left at Spring 
Creek to guard the rear of Forrest's command and to notify him 
of any advance from the direction of Jackson. All during the 
night of the 20th Forrest was paroling the prisoners and destroy- 
ing supplies. He says in his report: " On the morning of the 21st 
I fired the depot, burning up the remaining supplies, with about 
600 bales of cotton, 200 barrels of pork, and a large lot of tobacco 
in hogsheads, used by the enemy for breastworks. Among the 
large quantity of supplies taken here were 20,000 rounds of ar- 
tillery and 400,000 rounds of small-arms ammunition, and 100,000 
rations of subsistence. After seeing everything destroyed which 
could not be removed, General Forrest, on December 21st, moved 
farther north in the direction of Union City. On this day, Rus- 
sell, Starnes, and Dibrell rejoined their commander. The latter 
had failed on the 20th to capture the stockade on Forked Deer 
Creek or to destroy the bridge. Two companies of the One 
Hundred and Sixth Illinois held the fort valiantly until Colonel 
G. P. Ihrie, with about four hundred infantry, came up and drove 
Dibrell off. Russell, acting as rear-guard at Spring Creek, had ac- 
quitted himself with great satisfaction to his commander. Here 
on the 20th he had been attacked by an infantry column which 
had marched out from Jackson in pursuit of the Confederate 
raiders. He signally repulsed this infantry. In the official report 
Forrest says: "Russell's regiment, the Fourth Alabama, charged 

118 



CAPTURES UNION CITY 

on horseback, and the enemy became panic-stricken and retreated 
hastily across Spring Creek, burning the bridge after them. We 
have heard nothing from them since in that direction."* 

At Rutherford station two companies of Federals were capt- 
ured and the trestles, bridges, and rails destroyed from Tren- 
ton to Kenton station, at which latter place Colonel Thomas 
J. Kinney, of the One Hundred and Nineteenth Illinois, with his 
command, was captured, and, in addition, 22 men left sick in the 
hospital there who were paroled. The destruction of an exten- 
sive trestle and the crossing of the Obion River detained the 
Confederates here until noon of the 22d. That afternoon and 
the next day still pushing northward, at 4 P.M. of the 23d Forrest 
reached Union City, charged into the town, and captured 106 
Federal troops without firing a gun. Captain Samuel B. Logan, 
in command, reports that the number of prisoners who surrendered 
was 94. He says: "The Confederate army under General Forrest, 
I judge to the number of 1500, surrounded my command in every 
direction but one, to within easy musket -range. Their cannon 
were shotted and sighted upon us, three of which were in full 
view. From the time their forces first appeared in sight three 
minutes did not transpire before we were thus surrounded. Gen- 
eral Forrest sent a flag of truce forward. My men needing my 
attention for a moment, I sent sutler R. W. Jones to meet the 
flag. A demand was made for an unconditional surrender of the 
post and forces. Deeming it to be extreme folly to fight so un- 
equal a force, I surrendered my command of 94 men."f Forrest 
had now reached the Kentucky border, which he crossed on De- 
cember 23d, and until the 25th the various detachments were en- 
gaged in destroying the railroad bridges over the bayou near Mos- 
cow and other bridges over the north and south fork of the Obion 
River, with several miles of wooden trestling in the bottoms be- 
tween them and south of Moscow. In his report of December 
24th, 1 862, he says : " We have made a clean sweep of the Federals 
and roads north of Jackson. Reliable reports show that they are 
rapidly sending up troops from Memphis. One hundred and 
twenty-five transports passed down a few days ago, within ten 
hours, and daily they are passing up loaded with troops. General 

* Official Records, vol. xvii. part i. p. 568. t Ibid. p. 567. 

119 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

Grant must either be in a very critical condition or else affairs in 
Kentucky require the movement."* 

By Christmas evening the "clean sweep," which meant the de- 
struction of the Mobile and Ohio railroad from Jackson, Tennes- 
see, as far north as Moscow, Kentucky, was complete. With one 
exception there was not a bridge left on this line. Not a yard of 
trestle-work was standing, not a culvert was left undestroyed, and 
the rails over much of this distance had been completely ruined 
for further use by building fires along the tracks, which, heating 
the metal, caused the rails to expand and knuckle. The head of 
the column was now turned southward along the railroad leading 
from Union City to Dresden and McKenzie. On the 26th of De- 
cember the bridge over the north fork of the Obion, on the branch 
railroad running to Paducah, was destroyed. Forrest had now 
concentrated his entire command, and, in addition to the force 
which had crossed with him when he advanced into west Tennes- 
see, he had gained a battalion of 430 men under Lieutenant-Colo- 
nel T. A. Napier, which had joined him soon after the capture of 
Trenton. 

Having been informed that a heavy column of infantry was 
moving in pursuit from Trenton in the direction of Dresden, 
Colonel J. B. Bififle was at this time despatched in that direction 
with his regiment to protect the Confederate leader from surprise 
from that quarter. 

On the night of the 26th the main column arrived at Dresden, 
a distance of twenty-five miles, capturing that point and destroy- 
ing all the government supplies and the railroad, and here the com- 
mand encamped for the night. On the 27th Forrest moved for- 
ward as far as McKenzie, some fifteen miles beyond Dresden in 
the direction of Huntingdon and Lexington. Here he became in- 
formed of the fact that two brigades of infantry were moving in 
that direction to intercept him on his return towards the crossing 
of the Tennessee at Clifton, and now the first real difificulty of his 
enterprise confronted him. All the bridges across the Obion which 
lay immediately in front of him had been destroyed, and the 
crossings were guarded by the Union forces. He learned, how- 
ever, that a structure, which was considered so unsafe as to be im- 

* Official Records, vol. xvii. part i. p. 594. 
120 



IN THE OBION BOTTOMS 

passable, and which was, moreover, in the h'ne of a by-way or coun- 
try road but little used, had been overlooked by the enemy and 
might still be made available. This bridge, half-way between Mc- 
Kenzie and McLemoresville, and situated about five miles from 
either place, Forrest reached shortly after dark, and with his 
wonted energy soon had his men, already much fatigued, at 
work repairing the timbers and the long and narrow causeway 
which served as approaches and stretched out through the miry 
bottoms for nearly a quarter of a mile on either side of the stream. 
All through the night of the 27th and for a good part of the morn- 
ing of the 28th they labored faithfully at this work and in con- 
veying the troops, artillery, a long train of captured caissons 
loaded with ammunition, and wagons full of powder and ball over 
this formidable obstruction. The general made a " full hand " 
with his men, for the axe was a ready implement with him, and 
his enthusiasm and example stimulated all to the extra exertion 
which the emergency demanded. With his own hands he drove 
the first wagon over, keeping on the narrow, slippery causeway 
without accident, a success not altogether equalled by the team- 
sters who followed, for two loads of ammunition were upset. 
While this was going on, just five miles farther south and directly 
in his path, through the sleepy little village of McLemoresville, a 
brigade of Federal infantry under Colonel Cyrus L. Dunham was 
passing from the direction of Trenton and marching to Hunting- 
don, where they arrived on the 29th of December. From his 
place of concealment in the Obion bottoms, Forrest waited until 
this command passed, and then moved forward to McLemoresville, 
arriving there a few hours after the rear-guard of Dunham's brigade 
had defiled through. On this same night, only a few miles west 
of him, another brigade, composed of the Twenty-seventh, Thirty- 
ninth, and Sixty-third Ohio, under Colonel John W. Fuller, and 
with which were moving Generals J. C. Sullivan and L N. Haynie, 
was marching from Trenton towards McLemoresville to unite 
with Dunham at Huntingdon. Forrest was thus about half-way 
between two columns of infantry which might have overwhelmed 
him then and there had they known his whereabouts. In front 
and to the south of him, in full possession of the region between 
Corinth, Purdy, Lexington, and Clifton, and right in the line of 
his march for escape, was General G. M. Dodge, who, under orders 

121 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

from General Grant, had moved with " the First Brigade, made up 
of the Second, Seventh, and Fifty-second Illinois, the Third Bri- 
gade, composed of the Seventh, Fiftieth, and Fifty-seventh Illi- 
nois regiments, two batteries of the Missouri Light Artillery, the 
Fifth Ohio, and Stewart's cavalry. At Purdy these were joined 
by another section of artillery and the Forty-eighth Illinois regi- 
ment." A portion of these troops had been despatched to Clif- 
ton and along the Tennessee River to destroy all the ferryboats, 
and to patrol the west bank of this stream in order to give timely 
notice of the presence of the Confederates in their effort to es- 
cape, and Brigadier- General Dodge reported that all boats and 
rafts on the Tennessee were destroyed. Northward, to retrace 
his steps, meant almost certain destruction. There was a large 
force at Columbus just behind him, and — although this did not 
much distress the Confederate leader — General Clinton B. Fisk was 
there, thirsting for glory and the opportunity of " doing up " the 
" brigand Forrest." On December 29th* he telegraphed to Gen- 
eral S. R, Curtis from Columbus, Kentucky, a blood - curdling 
message that " the brigand Forrest with about eight thousand 
mounted rebels and eight pieces of artillery undertook a raid on 
a large scale on the Mobile and Ohio railroad. He was rapidly 
accomplishing his purposes when reinforcements began to arrive 
from St. Louis. His bands are now scattering. His headquarters 
are about ten miles distant, where he is throwing up fortifica- 
tions. I have been begging General Davies to let me take 4000 
men and go out there and whip him, but the general will not allow 
the movement ; is quite nervous about the post ; but I am fully con- 
vinced that we could defeat or skedaddle the entire rebel horde. 
I know I am a young general, but I believe I am old enough to see 
through a millstone with so large a hole in it." What a different 
fate might have been in store for the " brigand " if this young gen- 
eral had been let loose upon him ! 

Forrest's entire force (with Biffle's regiment absent) at this time, 
confronting the powerful concentration which was being made 
against him, was 2000 men. Moreover, his troops and horses 
were now much exhausted by the terrible strain to which they 
had been subjected for the fortnight past. In the coldest season 

* Official Records, vol. xvii. part ii. p. 504. 
122 



PROBLEMS OF IMPORTANCE 

of mid-winter they had marched and fought almost without cessa- 
tion for this period, with little time for rest and sleep. 

Well might Brigadier-General Jeremiah C. Sullivan, the man 
with "the genius for tardiness,"* as one of his subordinate oflficers 
in an ofificial report said of him, wire General U. S. Grant, on this 
29th of December, from Huntingdon: " I have Forrest in a tight 
place. The gunboats are up the river as far as Clifton, and have 
destroyed all the boats and ferries. My troops are moving on him 
in three directions, and I hope with success." 

In this, as in every dilemma in which the fortunes of war placed 
him, the Confederate leader, as General Wolseley wrote of him, 
" showed that he was a man of quick resolves and prompt execu- 
tion, of inexhaustible resource, and of ready and clever expedients. 
He had all the best instincts of the soldier, and his natural mili- 
tary genius was balanced by sound judgment. He always knew 
what he wanted, and consequently there was no weakness or un- 
certainty in his views or intentions, nor in the orders he gave to 
have these intentions carried out. There was never any languor 
in that determined heart, nor weariness in that iron body. Panic 
and fear fled and hid at his approach, and the sound of his cheer 
gave courage to the weakest heart." 

At this juncture there were presented to the mind of Forrest 
two problems of importance to the complete success of his expedi- 
tion. The first was: Should he now — having done so much dam- 
age to the enemy's communications and drawn ofif so many troops 
from Grant, and thus prevented any possibility of reinforcing 
Rosecrans at Murfreesborough, or the Union army moving on 
Vicksburg— make his run for the Tennessee and cross ; or should 
he attempt the destruction of the two commands, now almost 
within sight of him, by getting between them, fighting and crush- 
ing the one before it could be relieved, and then turn upon 
the other? Even with Bififle and his regiment absent he was 
almost numerically equal to either of the infantry brigades. It 
was scarcely forty miles to the Tennessee, and were he to "run 
for it " these troops would undoubtedly push after him, and, with 
the slow ferriage of the two flat-boats and the great probabilities 
of the gunboats taking a hand with the land forces while in the 

* Official Records, vol. xvii. part i. p. 587. 
123 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

act of crossing, he must be in greater danger at the river than 
where he was. Moreover, he knew that at Bethel station, some 
thirty miles south of Jackson, there had been accumulated a large 
quantity of government stores, and, could he whip Sullivan's two 
brigades, he might destroy the rich supplies of Grant at that de- 
pot. In any event, his mind reached the conclusion that he should 
fight even to secure a safe crossing of the Tennessee. On Decem- 
ber 30th he despatched his brother. Captain " Bill " Forrest, with 
his company of " Independents"* in the direction of Clarksburg, 
and here at dark this detachment collided with Dunham's troops, 
who were marching to Parker's Cross-Roads, and he determined 
to throw himself between Dunham and Fuller and try to beat 
them in detail. 

As soon as Colonel Dunham, at Clarksburg, had learned, on the 
night of the 30th of December, that Forrest was encamped within 
four miles of his position, he immediately notified his superiors, 
Brigadier-Generals J. C. Sullivan and I. N. Haynie, at Hunting- 
don, suggesting that they move forward to his support with their 
commands. Before it was yet light, on the morning of the 31st, 
he moved his brigade and artillery with commendable rapidity 
the five miles from Clarksburg to Parker's Cross-Roads. Ap- 
proaching the intersection of these two highways, his advance 
came in contact with the Confederate pickets, the latter retiring 
on the road from Parker's towards McLemoresville, on which 
route, about one mile north, Forrest's troops were halted. As 
soon as he was satisfied that Dunham's brigade was at the cross- 
roads, he sent a detachment of four companies, with instructions 
to get in the rear of the Federals and take the road to Clarksburg 
and Huntingdon, to skirmish with and retard as far as possible 
every advance of Fuller's brigade, and to notify him in time of 
any advance from that direction to reinforce Dunham at Parker's. 

* This organization was an independent company of about forty men, 
who served directly or indirectly with General Forrest in all his campaigns 
in Mississippi and west Tennessee. As they were not in the regular service, 
they drew no pay except from the enemy, and lived by foraging on foes 
when they could, and on friends when they could not find the foe. They 
early were baptized by their brother cavalrymen in the regular line " The 
Forty Thieves." Under a Forrest they always fought as well as they for- 
aged, and as foragers they were not surpassed. 

124 




CAPTAIN WII.I.IAM M. KOKKIiST 
Aide-de-camp 



BATTLE OF PARKER'S CROSS-ROADS 

By an unfortunate blunder this detachment took the wrong road, 
and thus was left wide open a route for the march of Fuller and 
his men, who came up in Forrest's rear in the crisis of the fight, 
and without warning poured their volleys right into the backs of 
the Confederates, who up to that moment were victorious at 
every point. 

The Confederate leader had now matured his plan. He had 
the two Federal brigades separated from each other a sufficient 
distance to permit him to interpose his command and destroy one 
before the other could come to the rescue. As he expected be- 
fore the day was done to have to fight Fuller's brigade when it 
.should come upon the scene, he determined to rely chiefly upon 
his artillery in fighting the Federals who were in his immediate 
front at the cross-roads, and thus keep the greater portion of his 
troops fresh for the second encounter of the day. Marching 
rapidly southward, he soon had his men in line of battle, in such 
position that he was between Dunham and Fuller, thus prevent- 
ing any communication between the two Federal detachments. 

Lieutenant Nat Baxter, Jr.,* a member of Freeman's battery, 
who, as shown by the official records, did most effective work as 
an artillerist in this battle, says : " Very early on the morning of 
December 31st, 1862, General Forrest rode up to our battery and 
ordered me to hitch up my gun and come with him. Having 
gone about a half-mile in the direction of Parker's Cross-Roads, 
he ordered some cavalry that accompanied us to throw the fences 
down, and here we turned into a field with the piece. General 
Forrest dismounted and went ahead to the crest of a hill and se- 
lected a position for my gun. To my great surprise, as I reached 
the top of the hill I saw the Federals in heavy line of battle not 
more than four hundred yards away. With the exception of two 
or three hundred cavalry immediately behind my gun, and one 
or two hundred dismounted men, who were about one hundred 
yards in front, behind logs and trees and in fence corners skir- 
mishing with the enemy, there were no other Confederate soldiers 
in sight. He told me to open immediately upon them, which I 
had no sooner done than three pieces of artillery from the Union 
side responded in lively fashion. I succeeded in dismounting 

* Official Records, vol. xvii. part i. p. 598. 
125 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

one of the Federal guns, to the great satisfaction of General For- 
rest, who remained with me all through the duel, and was with 
my piece at frequent intervals throughout the day. The fight- 
ing on our side was done almost entirely with our artillery. We 
drove the Federals back beyond the cross-roads, and had them 
corralled in a wooded lot, from which they made two or three 
charges to capture my battery, but failed. We were at such close 
quarters a good deal of the time that we used two charges of 
canister with a single charge of powder. We would cut the 
second charge of powder off, and as these fell upon the ground 
there had accumulated such a pile near the muzzle of the gun 
that at one time they became ignited and made a very consider- 
able explosion. Seeing the flash and the momentary confusion 
which this caused in the battery, the Federals, thinking some 
great disaster had occurred, and that it was a propitious moment 
for a charge to take our guns, made a final desperate assault upon 
the battery, but were again repulsed." * 

The Federal commander, with equal readiness, brought his ar- 
tillery into play as a prelude to the spirited engagement which 
was to follow. He had, however, only three pieces, and the su- 
perior practice of Baxter's gun, aided as it was a half-hour later by 
seven additional guns under Freeman and Morton, soon told upon 
the Federal pieces and their line of infantry. Baxter had dis- 
mounted one of the enemy's guns before reinforcements arrived, 
and when the battery of eight guns opened their entire line fell 
back, in good order, however, towards the cross - roads. As 
they retired, Forrest advanced his line until he again came up 
with the enemy, now reformed beyond Parker's house. The 
Union forces here made a stubborn fight, and on two occasions 
charged in gallant style to dislodge the Confederates. On each 
of these essays they were met with a withering fire of grape and 
canister, the Confederate troops being held well back out of 
range, yet close enough to support the guns should they be 
needed for this duty. 

By twelve o'clock Dunham had been driven from his second 
position, and was retiring towards a heavy grove of timber in the 

* Manuscript in possession of the author from Mr. Nat Baxter, Jr., in 1898 
president of the Tennessee Coal and Iron Company of Birmingham, Alabama. 

126 







LIEUTENANT NAT BAXTER, Jr. 
Freeman's Battery 



BATTLE OF PARKER'S CROSS-ROAD 

direction of Lexington, when Forrest ordered Starnes's Fourth 
Tennessee and Russell's Fourth Alabama regiments to the right 
and left of the Federals, and thence to the rear, in order to cut off 
their retreat. At this propitious moment Bififle arrived * and 
took part in the general advance which Forrest now ordered, and 
which swept the Union forces precipitately from the field. 

Of this particular advance of the Confederates Colonel H. J. 
B. Cumming (Thirty-ninth Iowa Infantry) says: "My command 
commenced breaking to the rear from near the right of the regi- 
ment, which, despite my efforts, became propagated along the 
whole line. I had done much towards reforming when we were 
opened upon by a heavy fire of dismounted men, who had ad- 
vanced within fifty feet of my troops. They then in more con- 
fusion fell back and received standing the fire from the enemy's 
artillery, and under it the confusion became worse. About half 
of my regiment broke and crossed the road into the corn-field." f 

The piece which Baxter had dismounted in the first half-hour 
of the engagement had already fallen into Forrest's hands, and in 
this advance the Confederates captured the two remaining guns, 
leaving the beaten Federals without artillery. In desperate mood 
Dunham essayed to recapture the guns, but was repulsed with 
considerable slaughter, especially from the artillery of the Con- 
federates, all of whose guns were still in action excepting one, 
which had exploded. It was at this moment that Colonel T. 
Alonzo Napier fell mortally wounded at the head of his battalion. 
In a moment of rashness, and without orders from his superior, 
this brave soldier advanced his battalion to a position of unneces- 
sary exposure, and thus sacrificed his own life and a number of 
his troops. 

Having lost his three guns, the disorder among the Iowa troops, 
as recorded by Colonel Cumming, compelled the Federal com- 
mander to retire in confusion from one-half to three-quarters of a 
mile south of Parker's, where his men were rallied for a final stand 
" in a grove of timber of about sixty acres, enclosed by a fence 
and surrounded by open fields." By this time Starnes and Rus- 

* Near Trenton, on this scout, Biffle captured and paroled 150 prisoners, 
and was hastening to overtake his commander. 
t Official Records, vol. xvii. part i. p. 589. 

127 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

sell had reached the rear of this position, had cut them off from 
escape and captured their entire wagon and ammunition train, 
which had been driven to this point of supposed security. The 
Federals, now completely hemmed in, were at the mercy of Forrest, 
who, wishing to avoid the loss to which a final assault would ex- 
pose him, sent forward a flag of truce asking for a conference with 
the commander of the Union forces. The firing on both sides 
immediately ceased, and at various points along the Union line 
white flags were noticed. Lieutenant Baxter says : " It was 
after this charge that the white flags appeared all along the Union 
line. I was under the impression that they had surrendered, and 
had gone in front of my gun towards the Federal line to converse 
with one of their ofificers. Just at this moment a volley of small 
arms was heard immediately behind the location of our batteries 
and in our rear. I rushed back to my gun to see what had hap- 
pened, and about this moment General Forrest came up to me, 
ordered me to limber up my piece and leave the field, pointing 
the direction we were to go." * 

In his ofificial report the Confederate general says: "At this 
time we occupied the battle-field, and were in possession of the 
enemy's dead and wounded and three pieces of artillery, and had 
demanded a surrender. Thirty minutes more would have given 
us the day, when, to my surprise and astonishment, a fire was 
opened on us in our rear, and the enemy in heavy force under 
General J. C. Sullivan advanced on us. Knowing that I had four 
companies at Clarksburg, on the Huntingdon road, I could not 
believe that they were Federals until I rode up myself into their 
lines. The heavy fire of their artillery, unexpected and unlooked 
for by all, caused a stampede of horses belonging to my dis- 
mounted men, who were following up and driving the enemy be- 
fore them. Finding my men now exposed to fire from both front 
and rear, I was compelled to withdraw, which I did in good order, 
leaving behind our dead and wounded. We were able to bring 
off six pieces of artillery and two caissons. The balance, with the 
three guns we had captured, we were compelled to leave, as most 
of the horses were killed or crippled, which rendered it impossible 
to get them out under the heavy fire of the enemy from both 

* Manuscript of Lieutenant Nat Baxter, in possession of the author. 

128 



COOL JUDGMENT AND PROMPT ACTION 

front and rear. Our loss in artillery was three guns and eight 
caissons, and one piece which burst during the action. We 
brought off eighty-three prisoners." * 

In all probability there was not in the history of the war a sur- 
prise more complete than that which was suffered by Forrest at 
the battle of Parker's Cross-Roads. There was certainly never 
such an opportunity as this for his complete discomfiture, and the 
fact that his entire command was not annihilated demonstrated 
his wonderful ability to meet any emergency, however great, with 
cool judgment and prompt action. 

Despite the assertion of Colonel Dunham in his official report 
that he was not whipped when reinforcements came to the rescue, 
the reports of other Union officers present prove the correctness 
of General Forrest's claim. 

Colonel John W. Fuller, commanding the brigade that came up 
in the rear, says in his official report: "We continued our march, 
and soon the sound of artillery in our front advised us that Colo- 
nel Dunham's brigade was engaging the enemy. The firing was 
first heard to the right of the point where the road from McLe- 
moresville crosses that leading from Huntingdon to Lexington. 
In half an hour it was directly in our front. Half an hour later it 
was all to the left of the crossing, thereby rendering it certain that 
the enemy, who approached from McLemoresville, was rapidly 
driving Colonel Dunham's brigade before him. Very soon there- 
after the rattle of musketry was distinct, and, thinking the hour 
a critical one, I urged my men to their utmost speed. 

" When the head of our column was within about two hundred 
yards of the hill which commanded a view of the enemy's posi- 
tion, and where our column was deployed. General Sullivan over- 
took me. The Twenty-seventh and Sixty-third regiments were at 
once formed on the left, and the Thirty-ninth regiment on the right 
of the road when we advanced upon the rear of the enemy's artil- 
lery, which was feebly supported, and abandoned (with but little 
fighting on his part) when we approached. Our artillery took po- 
sition on the left (east) of the road, and, directly after opening 
fire, two pieces followed the infantry, until they occupied ground 
side by side with the rebel guns, while the other piece was moved 

* Official Records, vol. xvii. part i. p. 569. 
' 129 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

to the west side of the road, where it was effectively used upon 
the rebels, who were escaping by breaking to the front and right 
of our lines. 

"Some hundreds of the enemy, who had dismounted and had 
been fighting as infantry, had left their horses in the orchard and 
yard near Parker's house. These horses were the first trophies 
which fell into our hands, and more than three hundred of their 
riders, thus rendered unable to get away, surrendered themselves 
as prisoners. A small train of wagons which the enemy had gained 
possession of was captured in the road a short distance south of 
Parker's house, and one at least of the guns belonging to Colonel 
Dunham's command was retaken from the enemy in this road. 

" When we reached the field, the enemy, who from the best evi- 
dence I could obtain were about double the number of Colonel 
Dunham's force, were in front and on both flanks of that brigade. 
A flag of truce, which had not returned to General Forrest when 
our guns opened, had, as Colonel Dunham informed me, demanded 
an unconditional surrender. Firing had ceased for some fifteen 
minutes prior to our arrival, nor did the command of Colonel 
Dunham fire a shot at the enemy as he moved past their flank to 
their rear."* 

Colonel Edward F. Noyes, commanding the Thirty-ninth Ohio, 
reports : " At Parker's Cross-Roads we found Dunham's brigade 
surrounded on three sides by the enemy under General Forrest. 
Firing had ceased, flags of truce were passing, and, as we after- 
wards learned. General Forrest had demanded an unconditional 
surrender. A part, if not all, of Dunham's artillery, together with 
several hundred prisoners, had fallen into the hands of the enemy. 
The moment was a critical one, and the day seemed inevitably 
lost. We deployed and advanced upon the double-quick. The 
enemy, taken utterly by surprise by this sudden attack in the 
rear, were thrown into confusion, and were compelled to make a 
precipitate and irregular retreat." f 

Although Colonel Dunham makes no mention of the loss of his 
artillery, only admitting the loss of his wagon-train. Colonel John 
L. Rinaker, of the One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Illinois, in his 
report, says : " By this time our artillery was out of ammunition, 

* Official Records, vol. xvii. part i. p. 569. t Ibid. p. 576. 

130 



VICTORIOUS IN DEFEAT 

and the guns were soon, from loss of horses, rendered useless, and 
were run into a ravine and temporarily abandoned." 

The Federals claimed to have captured about three hundred of 
Forrest's horses and troops, which claim seems to be authenti- 
cated. That they did not capture practically all of Forrest's com- 
mand shows either a great lack of ability on the part of the Union 
commander or want of concert of action between the two lines of 
battle, which had almost the entire force of the Confederates be- 
tween them. The facts remain, however, that in the presence of 
overwhelming odds thus favorably placed for his discomfiture. 
General Forrest, with consummate ability, extricated his com- 
mand from between the Union lines, carrying with him as many 
as six pieces of artillery, a number of caissons, a part of his wagon- 
train, and all his troops, with the exception of about one hundred 
and fifty killed and wounded, and three hundred who were dis- 
mounted, and whose horses were captured before they were aware 
of the presence of the enemy in their rear.* The three guns capt- 
ured in the battle by Forrest were left, with one other piece which 
exploded and two more of Freeman's guns, the horses for which 
were shot down by the volleys from Fuller's brigade, which 
marched up behind them and fired into them with great destruc- 
tion before the men of the battery knew there were any Federals 
in that direction. Notwithstanding his complete surprise and de- 
feat here, the careful student of the military career of Forrest will 
not find better evidence of his remarkable genius than the fight at 
Parker's Cross-Roads. He had taken every possible precaution to 
accomplish the work he had in hand, convinced that in order to re- 
cross the Tennessee with his booty he had to fight these pursuing 
columns. With keen discernment he had waited until the two 
columns of the enemy which he wished to destroy were at a suffi- 
cient distance from each other to enable him to strike and over- 
whelm one before it could be reached by the other. It was the 
analogue of Stonewall Jackson's brilliant movement in the valley 
of the Shenandoah, and the strategy of Jackson was the equal of 
that of Bonaparte in the great Italian campaign. Although about 
equally matched with Dunham's brigade in small arms, he more 

* Forrest's losses up to this fight since crossing the river were about 
fifty killed, wounded, and missing. 

131 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

than doubled him in artillery, and all through the fight he made 
the artillery do the work, never exposing his soldiers unless it was 
absolutely necessary for the protection of the guns. He says: " I 
was whipping them badly with my artillery ; had them entirely 
surrounded ; was taking it leisurely, and was trying as much as 
possible to save my men " ; and this policy accounts for the small 
losses he suffered in killed and wounded. In this way he had 
driven Dunham from the field, and had him finally hemmed up 
where his escape without help was impossible. Relying upon the 
detachment he had sent out early in the morning to inform him 
of Fuller's approach from the direction of Huntingdon, and feel- 
ing in the absence of any such information that he had plenty of 
time to try his " old Murfreesborough game of bluff " upon the 
Federal commander, in the hope of saving his own troops from a 
final and bloody assault, he had sent to him a flag of truce 
demanding an immediate and unconditional surrender, with the 
usual threat and scare of " No quarter " if he had to storm his posi- 
tion. While the flags of truce were passing between the lines, 
and while not a gun had been fired for from fifteen to thirty min- 
utes. Fuller's brigade, with small arms and artillery, opened upon 
the Confederate line of battle from the rear. 

Colonel Dunham, in his official report, claims that he had no 
idea of surrendering ; but no one who studies the situation from 
the official records can entertain a doubt that his position was ex- 
tremely critical and that within an hour he would have been 
forced to have surrendered or had his command annihilated. 

He states that he had in action 1554 men, rank and file, exclu- 
sive of the Seventh Tennessee, which was left at Huntingdon and 
probably came up with Fuller. This number does not include, 
however, a portion of the Eleventh Illinois Cavalry, which is men- 
tioned incidentally further along in his report. 

Up to the time of the arrival of Biffle's regiment, which was not 
present in the early part of the fight, Forrest had 1800 men on the 
field, and when Biffle arrived his entire force was 2250. This is 
exclusive of the four companies sent away on what turned out to 
be " a wild-goose chase " and which were cut off from rejoining 
their commander until they had recrossed the Tennessee River 
some days later, and two other detachments on scouting duty tow- 
ards McLemoresville and Jackson. 

132 



NOT "WIPED OUT" 

Colonel Dunham reports 23 killed, 139 wounded, and 58 miss- 
ing of his brigade. Among the prisoners were Captain Hungate 
and several other officers, and " Lieutenant D. S. Scott, of the 
Eleventh Illinois Cavalry, who was taken while zealously discharg- 
ing his duties." * The corrected official list shows 2 officers and 25 
enlisted men killed, 7 officers and 133 men wounded, 3 officers 
and 6"] men captured. A total loss of 237. 

General Jeremiah C. Sullivan, who came upon the battle-field 
with Fuller's brigade in time to see Forrest disappearing over the 
hills of west Tennessee in the direction of Lexington, lost no time 
in notifying General U. S. Grant of his great victory. He telegraph- 
ed from Parker's Cross-Roads as follows : "We have achieved a glo- 
rious victory. We met Forrest, 7000 strong, and after a contest of 
four hours completely routed him with great slaughter. We have 
captured six guns, over 300 prisoners, over 500 horses, and a large 
number of wagons and teams and a large quantity of small arms. 
Colonel Napier killed. Colonel Cox and Major Strange, Forrest's 
adjutant, and one aide-de-camp and a number of other officers capt- 
ured. Colonel Rinaker slightly wounded. I will telegraph par- 
ticulars of our loss." He adds to this on the 2d of January : 
"The rebel loss as estimated by Forrest is 1500 men killed and 
wounded and missing. Their dead I have good reason to be- 
lieve is 200, their prisoners over 400. My loss will not exceed 
100 killed and wounded, prisoners 63." The same date he says: 
"I have ordered Colonel Lawler with 3000 of the old troops 
and eight pieces of artillery to follow the retreating enemy to 
the river. Forrest's army is completely broken up. They are 
scattered over the country without ammunition. We need a 
good cavalry regiment to go through the country and pick 
them up." f 

General Grant was quite pleased with the "wiping out" of 
Forrest. From Holly Springs, Mississippi, on January ist, he 
wired : " Sullivan caught up with Forrest, and gave him a tremen- 
dous thrashing. The gunboats got up and destroyed all his ferries." 
And on the following day : " Sullivan has whipped Forrest, and 
entirely broken up his band, captured 400 prisoners, all their train, 
several wagon-loads of small arms, six pieces of artillery, over 500 

* Official Records, vol. xvii. part i. p. 584. f Ibid. p. 552. 

133 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

horses, and recaptured much of the clothing and other property 
taken from our posts that surrendered." 

Nor was Sullivan forgotten. On the same date he telegraphed 
the " Genius for Tardiness " : " You have done a fine job— retrieved 
all lost at Trenton and north of you. i sent a fine regiment of 
cavalry to you. They left here on the 31st. Clear out west 
Tennessee of all roving cavalry. If it is necessary mount as much 
infantry as you think necessary. What do you estimate the loss 
on each side?" And closed by placing this final screw in the 
cofifin-Hd of the bold raider: "Dodge is now out after Forrest's 

band." 

While these despatches were flying over the wires, and General 
Sullivan was assuring his chieftain that there was " nothing left but 
to go through the country and pick Forrest and his command up," 
and notwithstanding the fact that " Dodge was now after him," 
the Confederate leader, with a number of his wounded, his wagons, 
artillery, horses, and men in compact organization and full of 
fight was crossing the Tennessee River unmolested. By midnight 
of January ist the ferriage was completed. Within less than 
thirty-six hours after the flight from Parker's Cross-Roads, these 
hardy riders had marched nearly forty miles and crossed this 
formidable barrier with no other means than two small ferryboats 
and some improvised rafts, and all this without loss of a man or a 
wheel ! 

When his quick ear caught the first round from the muskets of 
Sullivan's reinforcements, and he saw the horse-holders of Cox's 
dismounted battalion stampeded by this volley. General Forrest 
at once directed his dismounted men to mount their horses and 
gallop out between the double line of Federals and make for the 
road to Lexington. Placing himself at the head of his escort and 
Dibrell's regiment, he threw this command, as a rear-guard, be- 
tween his pet guns and Sullivan's advance. He was not going to 
give up his artillery without a desperate struggle. One of Fuller's 
regiments, more advanced than the rest, coming up too close to 
his pieces, which were being driven from the field, he rode at them 
just as recklessly and savagely as he did at Sherman's infantry at 
Monterey, and with the same result. Fuller's men went back in a 
hurry, and then they " let him alone." 

Lieutenant Baxter narrates that as he, on foot, was running 

134 




MAJOR J. P. STRANGK 
Assistant Adjutant-General 



HOW RETREAT WAS ACCOMPLISHED 

across the field behind his gun, Forrest, who was halting every man 
that he could reach, ordered him to get into line with the others, 
and advance upon the enemy that were coming up in his rear. 
He said : " General, I am entirely unarmed ; have neither gun, 
pistol, nor sword." Forrest replied, quickly : " That doesn't 
make any difference ; get in line and advance on the enemy with 
the rest ; I want to make as big a show as possible." There were 
a number of men in this charge who had no weapons, but Forrest 
led them with great boldness upon the advancing line of infantry. 
This show of force checked the Federal infantry and enabled him 
to escape. 

The fire from Fuller's artillery had slaughtered the horses of 
six caissons and two of Freeman's guns, and these Forrest had to 
leave ; the rest went galloping away and were saved. Sullivan 
threw one gun into play as they rode out, and with this piece he 
did considerable damage to Forrest's rear-guard — thus account- 
ing for the unusually large loss in Dibrell's regiment. It was at 
this crisis of affairs that Colonel Starnes again showed himself to 
possess the soldierly qualities which characterized him on so many 
occasions. It will be remembered that he and Russell had been 
sent on the flanks of Dunham, and when the flags of truce were 
passing they enclosed him on the south, or Lexington, side, to 
prevent his escape. When the truce was interrupted, and the 
heavy firing from the direction of Huntingdon told him what 
had happened, Starnes saw immediately the predicament in which 
his chieftain was placed, and he and Russell at once attacked 
Dunham so viciously that they kept this brigade of Federals 
entirely engaged on their side of the field, and thus relieved For- 
rest from being attacked from this quarter as he rode away from 
the troops under Sullivan. 

Dunham had all he could attend to, and, as the Federal reports 
show, he never fired a shot at Forrest, as the Confederate cavalry 
and artillery escaped between him and Fuller's brigade. 

General Sullivan seemed to be entirely satisfied with the result 
his timely arrival had achieved, for he held the field and made no 
effort to follow the retreating Confederates. With characteristic 
audacity, Forrest, after he had extricated his command, and had his 
artillery and wagons well on the way to Lexington, turned on the 
Federals with such a show of force and fight that Sullivan took 

135 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

the defensive. Colonel Fuller says : " Two hours after Forrest 
had retired from Parker's Cross-Roads, Sullivan informed me that 
Forrest was advancing upon his left and front. I remained in 
line of battle until daylight in the morning." It was this partic- 
ular occasion that gave color to one of the many exaggerated 
stories concerning Forrest's original methods of warfare. When 
the troops of Sullivan advanced in line of battle and opened on 
Cox's horse-holders, Colonel Charles Carroll, of his staff, in great 
perturbation, dashed up to his commander, shouting, " General 
Forrest, a heavy line of infantry is right in our rear, we are be- 
tween two lines of battle. What shall we do ?" Forrest, it is said, 
instantly replied ; " We'll charge them both ways." He did charge 
both ways, but it was Starnes and Russell who did one side of the 
work. 

The Confederate cavalry arrived at Lexington, twelve miles 
from the battle-field, on the night of the 31st, and here some few 
of the wounded, still able to travel, were cared for. The men 
and animals were fed and rested until about 2 A.M., when the 
command saddled up and again moved off in the direction of the 
Tennessee River, and by daylight of the ist of January another 
halt was made ten miles east of Lexington. With the exception 
of a detachment of Dibrell's regiment, the entire command was 
allowed three hours of rest, and here the prisoners were paroled. 

At this time Forrest ordered his brother, Major Jeffrey Forrest, 
with a detachment, to move immediately to the Tennessee River, 
and to have the ferryboats (which had been concealed by sinking 
them) bailed out and brought over to the west bank, ready for 
crossing. Between 9 and 10 A.M. the entire command followed 
at top speed in the wake of Major Forrest. 

The Confederate leader had good cause for this rapid march 
towards Clifton. He had every reason to presume that the Fed- 
eral infantry which fought him at Parker's Cross-Roads, on the 
day previous, would be relentless in their pursuit. He knew how 
greatly they had overmatched him in numbers, and he had also 
been informed by his scouts that a large body of troops under 
General G. M. Dodge was coming from the direction of Corinth 
and Purdy to interpose themselves between his command and the 
Tennessee. He had scarcely marched two miles from the point 
of starting on the ist of January when his advance-guards came 

136 



DISCRETION OF THE UNION TROOPS 

back with the information that a heavy column of Federal cav- 
alry was in his immediate front. Nothing daunted, and not even 
taking time to determine their numbers by a reconnaissance in 
person, Dibrell's regiment, with Starnes's and Biffle's, were hurried 
in line of battle, and thus advanced until they came in sight of 
the Federal cavalry in battle array. The order to charge was 
given, and the Union troopers were swept without ceremony from 
the field. Lieutenant-Colonel W. K. M. Breckinridge, who com- 
manded the Sixth Tennessee Cavalry (Union) on this occasion, 
reported to Brigadier-General Dodge, to whose command he be- 
longed : "On the morning of January ist, near Clifton, a very 
short time after sunrise, our pickets were driven in by Forrest's 
advance. We first made an effort to form on a hill and then fell 
back to the foot of the hill. I then changed position, and would 
have been all right had it not been that one of the companies in 
the rear did not receive the order to fall back until they were very 
much exposed to the enemy's fire. In the mean time the enemy 
made an attempt to surround the company. We lost about six 
men as prisoners. We made our retreat and got in the rear of 
the enemy to annoy him all we could. We found that his rear 
was moving at a very rapid rate and followed them within a 
short distance of the river, and found that they had been advised 
that their rear was followed. I did not deem it prudent to follow 
farther." * 

Colonel G. G. Dibrell, whose regiment led in this charge, says: 
" After skirmishing a few minutes we charged and routed them, 
killing or capturing fifteen or twenty of them." f 

Being discreet as well as valorous, the Union troopers did not 
appear again upon the scene during the west Tennessee cam- 
paign. 

After the defeat of Breckinridge's cavalry, Forrest left one regi- 
ment of his command to act as rear-guard, and with these placed 
a section of artillery under Edwin H. Douglas, who was after- 
wards first-lieutenant in Muggins's battery, and was then serving 
under Freeman. He told him to fortify as best he could with 
rails, logs, and everything else at hand, and with the aid of the de- 
tachment of cavalry he would leave with him, if attacked he was 

* Official Records, vol. xvii. part i. p. 590. t Ibid. p. 599. 

137 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B, FORREST 

to fight to the last in order to give the remainder of the command 
time to ferry the other guns and the troops across the river. 

Douglas threw his guns into position as his commander had 
directed, and was soon ready for the desperate effort. 

That Forrest had not yet famiUarized himself with the artillery 
manual is evident from the statement of Lieutenant Douglas: 
" When our section was ordered to take position and get ready 
for action, according to the manual of artillery drill we galloped 
up to the position, unlimbered, and the horses were moved 
obliquely to take their place in the rear of the guns and out of 
range. The general did not understand the rapid movement of 
the horses to the rear. Mistaking it for a cowardly runaway on 
the part of the drivers, he rode up to the man on the lead horse, 
and, as he struck him over the shoulders with the flat of his sabre, 
yelled : * Turn those horses around and get back where you be- 
long, or by God I'll kill you !' The artilleryman answered : ' Gen- 
eral, I'm moving in accordance with tactics.' Forrest yelled back 
at him : 'No you are not ; I know how to fight, and you can't run 
away with the ammunition-chest !' 

" A few days after I took my book of tactics to the general's tent 
and showed him that it was necessary for the horses to move off 
out of range, and offered to give him an exhibition-drill, so that 
he could see the reasons for such a manoeuvre. This was accept- 
ed, and he became greatly interested. In less than a week he had 
mastered the manual and become an expert among experts in 
placing a battery and in the use of the guns. I may also add 
that he was just as prompt and earnest in his apology to the sol- 
dier he had wronged as he was in the infliction of what he then 
believed to be a merited rebuke." 

Between twelve meridian and one o'clock on January ist the 
Confederates reached the Tennessee River. The two flat-boats 
which had been left in charge of Captain J. M. Barnes and Lieu- 
tenant F. H. Daugherty, of the Eighth Tennessee, had been suc- 
cessfully concealed from the gunboats, and the various scouting 
expeditions sent up and down the Tennessee to destroy all the 
facilities for Forrest's escape. As luck would have it, the gun- 
boats also were not in sight at this important moment. Ever 
mindful of his artillery, the first thing Forrest did was to hurry 
four of his guns across the river on the first trip of the boat, tak- 

138 



RECROSSING THE TENNESSEE 

ing the ammunition-chests and artillerists with a few of his men. 
The boats were propelled by two oars near the bow and by poles 
up the river-bank close to shore, where the current was less swift 
for about a half-mile, and then across the river, drifting down 
with the current and landing opposite the place of starting. Go- 
ing and coming, this process was rapidly repeated. As soon as 
the cannon and artillerists reached the east shore the horses were 
hitched on, the pieces hauled up the bank and immediately thrown 
into position, two at the point of crossing to command the ap- 
proach from behind the troops still on the west shore. One was 
sent up and another down the stream to keep off any craft that 
might be steaming from either direction and hold them at safe 
distance from the mass of men and animals that were working 
their way across the river. Scouts had already been despatched 
up and down the river to give timely notice of any approach of 
the gunboats. 

Company after company were made to unsaddle their horses and 
pile their saddles, blankets, guns, and other equipment in the 
boats, and these were carried immediately over with as many men 
as the boats would hold. Others of the troops rapidly constructed 
rafts of fence rails and logs that would hold from five to ten men 
each, and on these frail floats the hardy troopers would launch 
themselves into the current and paddle across, leaping ashore 
when the bank was touched, and letting the abandoned craft float 
away on the swift current. There was now no time to ferry the 
horses across, and they were forced to swim. Two men would 
man a canoe or skiff, while a third, holding the bridle of a horse, 
would strike out with the animal swimming by the side of the 
boat. When this piloted horse was a short distance from the 
shore, the other animals, stripped for the plunge, were led to where 
the bank was perpendicular from the edge of the water, the bri- 
dles taken off, and one after another pushed into the stream. 
They could do nothing but swim, and naturally struck out to fol- 
low the lead of the horse already in the river. Fully one thou- 
sand of these faithful creatures were thus at the same moment 
struggling in the swift-flowing water. 

Such was the ready method by which this remarkable man con- 
veyed a force of about two thousand men and horses, six pieces 
of artillery, and a train of wagons and captured stores across a 

139 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

river nearly three-quarters of a mile in width, accomplishing the 
wonderful feat in the short period of ten hours. 

To his commanding officer he writes: "After the fight, and 
knowing that we were followed by the Federals in heavy column 
from Trenton and Huntingdon, I deemed it advisable to cross 
the Tennessee, which I accomplished yesterday and last night in 
safety." * 

Meanwhile his Federal antagonists were floundering through 
the mud, sleet, and rain, in a cold and hopeless stern-chase after 
the swift-moving Confederates. They had rested upon the laurels 
won on the battle-field of Parker's Cross-Roads, and upon their 
arms for the balance of the day and the entire night of the 31st 
of December, in hourl}^ anticipation of attack from the command 
which General Grant had been informed were "scattered over the 
country." It was not until the next morning, January ist, as 
Colonel J. W. Fuller reports, that "we marched to Lexington. 
On the 2d my brigade and Colonel Lawler's brigade from Jack- 
son marched towards the Tennessee River — five or six miles east 
of Lexington. Here we learned that Forrest's command (prison- 
ers and stragglers excepted) had crossed the river. On the 3d 
we moved to Clifton. Learning the road ran along stream for 
two miles near Clifton, and fearing the enemy would use his ar- 
tillery from the opposite bank, we halted. We found a small 
picket of about fifteen men, with which we exchanged fire and 
retired. As soon as our cavalry appeared opposite the town 
the enemy began to shell them from batteries on the bluff. A 
wagon-load of ammunition was twice struck, and so disabled that 
we were compelled to abandon it. The march of this day was 
more severe on the men of my command than any I have wit- 
nessed. The road was horrible, and the rain, which fell steadily, 
made it more so." 

In like doleful vein Colonel Edward F. Noyes says : " On the 2d 
of January we reached a point nine miles from Clifton on the 
river. On the 3d the three Ohio regiments made a reconnaissance 
to the river, it having been reported, however, that the enemy 
had already crossed his entire force. That day and the followi..^, 
evening, for a large portion of the time, the rain fell in torrents. 

* Official Records, vol. xvii. part i. pp. 571, 598. 
140 



REVIEW OF WEST TENNESSEE CAMPAIGN 

The road was covered with jagged rocks, whose crevices were 
filled with mud. The men in stepping from rock to rock fre- 
quently slipped and fell, bruising themselves severely. Twenty 
of my men are reported missing, and have not since been heard 
from." * 

Colonel John W. Sprague, of the Sixty -third Ohio Infantry, 
says : " At Parker's Cross-Roads we came upon the enemy, but be- 
ing mounted they were soon and entirely beyond our reach. On 
the 1st we marched to Lexington. On the 2d of January 
marched to Bath Springs. On the morning of January 3d we 
were told that the enemy were safe across the river." 

Colonel M. K. Lawler says: "On the ist I marched towards 
the Tennessee River in pursuit of the rebels under General For- 
rest. The second day we reached Mr. Sparks's house, nine miles 
on this side of Clifton, and on the 3d of January marched with 
our brigade to the river. The rebels had all crossed the river the 
evening previous at Clifton and other points below. My adjutant- 
general, Joseph B. Thorp, was wounded in the leg by a rifle-ball." 
And, last of all, on January 3, 1863, Brigadier-General G. M. Dodge 
brought up the rear-guard of the procession in the following de- 
spatch to Major-General Grant : " Forrest escaped across the river 
at Clifton at 7 A.M., January ist, having travelled all the time 
since his fight, and immediately attacked my cavalry. They kept 
him from the river until night, when they found they were sur- 
rounded by a heavy force and two pieces of artillery. Forrest 
commenced crossing that night, his men on rafts ; his horses swam. 
The cavalry attacked again on the 2d, and this morning he had 
everything across by ten o'clock. I could not reach him with my 
forces, but sent forward all the mounted men I could raise, with 
one section of artillery. Our cavalry have lost considerably in 
killed and wounded, but not many prisoners. They took several 
of Forrest's men." f 

The actual work of the west Tennessee campaign consumed 
fifteen days, from the 17th of December, the date Forrest com- 
pleted the passage of the Tennessee, to January ist, when he re- 
crossed this stream to the eastern shore. In mid-winter, and for 
nearly one week of this time there was a heavy fall of rain or sleet 

* Official Records, vol. xvii. part i. pp. 571, 598. f Ibid. p. 551. 

141 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

and snow, and in a section of the country notorious for bad roads, 1 
which were rendered practically impassable in wet weather, he ' 
had marched with artillery and wagons about three hundred miles, 
had fought one pitched battle lasting five hours, two other well- j 
contested engagements, and from one to two or more skirmishes 
daily. When not fighting the men were hard at work destroying 
railroads, bridges, trestles, culverts, depots, and rails, and all capt- ' 
ured supplies which could not be removed. Two important lines j 
of communication had been wiped out, and the work of destruction ] 
had been thorough, as is attested by General Grant, who says : "At * 
the same time, Forrest got on our line of railroad between Jack- 
son, Tennessee, and Columbus, Kentucky, doing much damage to ,| 
it. This cut me off from all communication with the North for j 
more than a week, and it was more than two weeks before rations . 
or forage could be issued from stores obtained in the regular way. || 
This demonstrated the impossibility of maintaining so long a line ( 
of road over which to draw supplies for an army moving in an | 
enemy's country. I determined, therefore, to abandon my cam- 
paign into the interior with Columbus as a base, and returned to ;i 
La Grange and Grand Junction, destroying the road to my front i 
and repairing the road to Memphis, making the Mississippi River i 
the line over which to draw supplies."* ' 
Not for a single night had these rough riders or their horses j 
had undisturbed repose. Of the Union troops they had killed 
and wounded and captured some fifteen hundred, and among the i 
officers were four colonels of regiments. They had captured in bat- 1^ 
tie five pieces of artillery (three of which were afterwards retaken), ., 
eleven caissons, and thirty-eight wagons and teams. When For- I 
rest entered west Tennessee more than one-half of his men were 'j 
without serviceable arms. In one regiment alone four hundred ' 
men had nothing but flintlock muskets, and one-half of the troops 
had no other arms than shot-guns and squirrel rifles, which would I 
not carry a bullet with fatal effect over one hundred yards. When 
he came out from this expedition every soldier of his command 
had a modern and effective weapon, with abundant ammunition, < 
and was well supplied with blankets and other equipment fur- [ 
nished by the enemy. ! 

* Memoirs of U. S. Grant, vol. i. p. 432. 

142 I 



i| 



REVIEW OF WEST TENNESSEE CAMPAIGN 

The largest number of troops at any time under his command 
in the west Tennessee raid was twenty-five hundred, but at no 
time were they wholly concentrated. When he entered west Ten- 
nessee he had two thousand, and on the expedition he was joined 
by Napier with about four hundred men, and from the best in- 
formation I can obtain he picked up about one hundred addi- 
tional troops during the two weeks of the campaign. Detach- 
ments on scouting duty were always out in various directions, 
and when the Tennessee was recrossed, on the ist of January, a 
number of these detachments made their way into middle Ten- 
nessee at points from fifty to one hundred miles distant from 
Clifton, where Forrest crossed with the main command. He car- 
ried seven pieces of artillery into west Tennessee, and brought 
out six, having lost only one gun, which exploded in the battle 
of Parker's Cross-Roads and was abandoned. 

His entire loss, it is safe to say, would not reach more than 
five hundred. He estimated his killed and wounded and captured 
at considerably less than this number, but when Forrest made his 
report he could not have had access to the facts which are now 
on record. The chief loss was at Parker's Cross-Roads, and it fell 
most heavily on Dibrell's regiment and the battalions of Cox 
and Napier. Cox's battalion happened to be dismounted and 
about the centre of the Federal line of battle which advanced in 
the rear of Forrest at the cross-roads. Before they knew the en- 
emy were coming from that direction, their horses, which were 
back about a quarter of a mile from their line, had been taken 
possession of by the Union troops, and about two hundred of 
these men failed to make their escape on foot. Napier's battal- 
ion lost very few if any prisoners, except their wounded, but 
the rash advance of this command by its leader into a position of 
great exposure caused considerable loss in killed and wounded 
before it was retired to a place of greater safety. Dibrell's regi- 
ment suffered from the fact that it was immediately under For- 
rest's eye when the crisis of the battle came, and followed him in 
the desperate assault on Fuller's advance. Here this regiment 
lost 4 killed, 27 wounded, and 122 captured, and in the entire cam- 
paign it lost 173 men in killed, wounded, and missing. 

That the results of this expedition were eminently satisfactory 
to its commander and to the government at Richmond is evident 

143 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

from the vote of thanks which was made by the Congress of the 
Confederate States to Brigadier-General Forrest and his troops, 
and the following report from General Braxton Bragg, at Win- 
chester, Tennessee, January 8th, 1863, to General S. Cooper, at 
Richmond, Virginia : 

" General Forrest proceeded with his brigade of cavalry to west 
Tennessee. His command was composed chiefly of new men, im- 
perfectly armed and equipped, and in his route lay the Tennessee 
River, which had to be crossed by such means as could be hastily 
improvised. The result of his expedition has been most brilliant 
and decisive. The enemy, in consequence of this vigorous assault 
in a quarter vital to their self-preservation, have been compelled 
to throw back a large force from the Mississippi, and virtually to 
abandon a campaign which so seriously threatened our safety. 
The loss of Forrest, though considerable, is small in comparison 
with the results achieved and the loss of the enemy. He has 
received my thanks, and deserves the applause of his government. 

" The number of prisoners taken by General Forrest amounted 
to fifteen hundred."* 

That he had accomplished the chief purpose intended by his 
expedition — namely, to weaken Grant's army of invasion in Mis- 
sissippi, and to prevent any possible reinforcement of Rosecrans 
at Murfreesborough or of the army then moving upon Vicksburg — 
is shown from a despatch from General-in-Chief H. W. Halleck to 
Major-General Grant on December 27th : " I think no more troops 
at present should be sent against Vicksburg. I fear you have al- 
ready too much weakened your own force. Concentrate and hold 
only the more important points." f 

And, finally, the great importance to the Union cause of keep- 
ing Forrest out of this territory in the future is shown from the 
following despatch sent on January 2d by Major-General Grant to 
General H. W. Halleck: " I will make a dash at the enemy's lines 
of communication that, if successful, will leave west Tennessee eas- 
ily held, so as to be able to send large reinforcements to Vicksburg 
if necessary." 

* Official Records, vol. xvii. part i. p. 592. t Ibid. p. 478. 

144 



CHAPTER VII 

FORT DONELSON AGAIN 

General Wheeler Determines to Attempt the Capture of Fort Donelson — Protest from 
Forrest — Communication from Major Charles W. Anderson — Rash Assault of the 
Confederates — Stubborn Defence of the Garrison — Terrific Slaughter among For- 
rest's Men — His Horse Killed within a Few Feet of the Breastworks — Repulse of 
the Confederates — The Attack Repeated — Forrest Has a Second Horse Shot Under 
Him — The Animal Falls upon Him and Injures Him Severely — Retreat of the 
Confederates — Generals Wheeler, Forrest, and Wharton at Yellow Creek Furnace — 
Forrest's Brigade Ordered to Columbia — Reaches There February 17th — Recon- 
naissance in Force by the Federals from Franklin — The Engagement at Thompson's 
Station — Gallant Conduct of Colonel John Coburn'and His Command — Forrest 
by a Brilliant Movement with Artillery and Cavalry Drives the Federal Battery and 
Mounted Troops from the Field and Causes the Surrender of Coburn's Command — 
The Hero of the Day. 

ONCE more in safety upon the eastern bank of the Tennes- 
see, General Forrest moved with his command leisurely to 
Mount Pleasant, and later, under orders from the com- 
mander-in-chief, to Columbia, where his men and horses found 
the rest they had so well earned. Here for three weeks there 
was little for them to do beyond the routine of camp life and the 
care of the animals in the effort to restore them to serviceable 
condition. Their chief military duty for the remainder of the 
month of January, 1863, was to picket and protect the army of 
General Bragg from surprise from the right wing of the Federal 
army, which was then stationed in the neighborhood of Franklin, 
Tennessee. About the last of this month General Forrest was 
ordered by his immediate commander, Major - General Joseph 
Wheeler, who had been promoted to be chief of cavalry, to take 
eight hundred men and proceed to the Cumberland River, at 
whatever point he thought his force would be most effective in 
accomplishing the object of the expedition, which was to inter- 
rupt, as far as practicable, the navigation of that stream. He 
moved out promptly under these instructions, and was soon 
K 145 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

heard from not far from the scene of an earlier and famous ex- 
ploit. 

Colonel A. C. Harding, of the Eighty-third Illinois Infantry, 
who was commanding at Dover (Fort Donelson), in a despatch 
dated February 6, 1863, says: "On the 2d inst. I was led to be- 
lieve that Forrest, with about nine hundred men and several 
pieces of artillery, had taken a position on the river at Palmyra 
for the purpose of obstructing the navigation of the Cumber- 
land."* This officer proposed to move in that direction on the 
3d to stir Forrest up, but before he started he received infor- 
mation that the Confederates were advancing upon Donelson by 
the road leading down the river. He therefore wisely abandoned 
the idea of a reconnaissance in the open country. 

Near Palmyra, Forrest, who had masked his guns and ambushed 
his men, and was all ready for a bout with any passing craft, was 
overtaken by the chief of cavalry, who brought with him a por- 
tion of Wharton's brigade. General Wheeler having concluded 
that the Federals had become apprised of the Confederate posi- 
tion along the river, and would not, for the present, send any 
more boats on that stream, and having nothing else in hand, de- 
termined upon an expedition for the capture of the Federal gar- 
rison at Dover. In his official report he says : " After maturely 
considering the matter, we concluded that nothing could be lost 
by an attack upon the garrison at Dover, and from the informa- 
tion that we had there was good reason to believe that this post 
could easily be captured." 

In the Campaigns of Geiieral Forrest, which was edited under 
his personal supervision, it is stated that some difference of opin- 
ion existed as to the propriety of this attack upon the fort at 
Dover, and that General Forrest submitted to his chief that he 
was not only poorly supplied with ammunition, but that the 
effort did not promise results commensurate with the losses that 
an assault upon such a formidable position would entail, and 
earnestly advised that the effort be abandoned. The premoni- 
tion of disaster weighed upon Forrest so heavily that on the 
morning of the engagement he spoke of the matter in strict con- 
fidence to his chief-of-staff. Major Charles W. Anderson, and to 

* Official Records, vol. xxiii. part i. p. 34. 
146 



ATTACK UPON FORT DONELSON 

Dr. Ben Wood, of Hopkinsville, Kentucky, then a surgeon con- 
nected with his command. He said : " I have a special request 
to make of you in regard to the proposed attack on Fort Donel- 
son. I have protested against the move, but my protest has been 
disregarded, and I intend to do my whole duty, and I want my 
men to do the same. I have spoken to none but you on this 
subject, and I do not wish that any one should know of the ob- 
jections I have made. I have this request to make : If I am 
killed in this fight, you will see that justice is done me by ofifi- 
cially stating that I protested against the attack, and that I am 
not willing to be held responsible for any disaster that may re- 
sult."^ 

General Wheeler believed, however, that by a simultaneous 
and quick rush from two sides the garrison could be overcome 
with trifling loss, and immediately ordered the advance. The 
command arrived in sight of the fort about twelve o'clock, noon, 
on February 3d, and at once advanced on foot to invest the 
strong position occupied by a garrison of eight hundred sturdy 
men of the Eighty-third Illinois Infantry, and a formidable array 
of light and heavy artillery. 

The Eighth Texas, of Wharton's brigade, was sent out on the 
road to Fort Henry, from which direction the Federals under 
Colonel Lowe were advancing with reinforcements. Having dis- 
mounted and deployed the detachment under Forrest for assault 
from the east side, and Wharton's fragment of a brigade from the 
west and southwest, a flag of truce was sent into the fort de- 
manding an immediate and unconditional surrender. The plucky 
Federal commander replied that he " declined to surrender the 
forces under his command or the post without an effort to defend 
them." 

The Confederate artillery promptly opened upon the advanced 
guns of the Union field-batteries, and soon compelled these to re- 
tire to the immediate vicinity of the fortifications. Forrest, hav- 
ing his men dismounted and in position and ready for the assault, 
was waiting, as he had been directed, until General Wheeler could 
arrive at Wharton's portion of the line, when, at a fixed moment, 

* A personal communication from Major Charles W. Anderson, living at 
Florence, Tennessee, in 1898. 

147 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

a general assault on foot was to be made. Before General 
Wheeler had reached the point where Wharton was in line, and 
before the moment set for the general attack, Forrest observed a 
number of Federal troops (three or four companies) marching at 
a double-quick in plain view from the fort in the direction of the 
river. Mistaking this move for the abandonment of the fortifi- 
cations and an effort to escape, and thinking he would be able to 
cut off and capture these troops, he immediately ordered his men 
to mount their horses, and led them in a charge on the Federal 
detachment. 

The Illinois commandant and his soldiers had, however, no idea 
of abandoning their stronghold. The troops Forrest had observed 
were several companies of the Eighty -third Illinois, which had 
been ordered to occupy a deep ravine a little beyond their central 
position.* As Forrest at the head of the few hundred men he 
had with him rode at the Federal infantry, those most in advance 
opened upon the charging column and immediately ran back to 
rejoin their comrades behind the breastworks. In the desperate 
effort to outrun and capture them, or go into the works with 
them and thus shield his men, Forrest and his troopers rode at 
full speed straight at the trenches. Unfortunately for him, the 
distance was so short that the fleet-footed men of Illinois had time 
to get over the embankment, and with their comrades already 
there take a hand in the deadly fusillade of small arms poured 
right in the faces of the rash horsemen. To this the garrison 
added a discharge of several of their heavy guns loaded to the 
muzzle with grape and canister, and the Confederates — horses 
and men — went down in frightful slaughter. Harding says : " In 
an instant the siege gun, double - shotted with canister, was 
turned upon them and discharged, tearing one man and two 
horses to atoms within ten feet of the muzzle. At the same time 
I ordered my infantry to fire, and this, with the grape and canis- 
ter, was too much for them and they gave way." Forrest's horse 
was shot and fell within a few paces of the guns. As soon as his 
troops saw their commander go down, thinking he had been killed, 
they retreated before the shower of grape and canister which 
they had unexpectedly met. Forrest disentangled himself from 

* Official Records, vol. xxiii. part i. p. 36. J 

148 



REPULSED AT FORT DONELSON 

the dead animal, which fortunately had not injured him in falling, 
and made his way to the rear with scant regard to the order of 
his going. 

General Wheeler says : "Just as I left General Forrest, he, think- 
ing the enemy were leaving the place and being anxious to rush 
in quickly, remounted his men and charged on horseback. The 
fire from the enemy was so strong that he was repulsed and 
obliged to retire." 

The discomfited troopers were again formed for assault, this 
time on foot, and, simultaneously with the advance by Wharton's 
column, they rushed forward, Forrest again on horseback at the 
head of his dismounted detachment. The Federal commander 
says : " The enemy, led on by Forrest himself, moved forward in a 
solid, motley mass, moving down the river to a point near the 
jail, and there by the flank up the street towards the southward, 
then forward in successive lines of battle between our northern 
line of base and the river, filling the whole open space with 
mounted men, and the air with yells of triumph." The Federals 
were driven from the houses which they had occupied as sharp- 
shooters, and on all sides from the outer intrenchments. They 
then took cover in the redoubts from which they again poured a 
very severe fire into the Confederates. These pressed forward 
with courage to the breastworks, but were unable to gain a footing 
within the fort. Forrest's horse was shot down, being the sec- 
ond animal killed under him that day, and the general was badly 
shaken up in falling. A number of men were killed within a few 
feet of the breastworks. 

The troops now took refuge in the houses near by from which 
the Federals had been driven. At this moment the garrison com- 
menced running out towards the river, and the Confederates, tak- 
ing this for a charge upon the held horses that were in that direc- 
tion, rushed back to protect the horses. General Wheeler was of 
the opinion that had this position not been abandoned at this crisis 
the garrison would have surrendered. From the report of Colonel 
Harding it is evident that this movement of the Federals was a 
rush on the part of six companies of his regiment to unite with 
three other companies in the rifle-pits, where the reserved ammuni- 
tion had been kept, and was done with no thought of a surrender. 

On the left, Wharton's command easily drove the Federals into 

149 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

their works, capturing a few prisoners and one fine twelve-pounder 
brass rifled-cannon, which was brought from the field. The stub- 
born resistance made by the garrison had, however, succeeded in 
holding off their assailants until near nightfall, when, as General 
Wheeler states, his troops had a secure position not more than 
ninety yards from the main rifle-pits of the garrison. Before mak- 
ing a third assault a conference was held, and it was decided that 
there was not enough ammunition left in the entire command to 
justify a further attack. It was also learned at this crisis that re- 
inforcements for the garrison were arriving, and had already fired 
upon the Confederate outposts. Before retreating a detachment was 
sent to the river-landing near the fort, and there set fire to a boat 
loaded with supplies, which was soon destroyed. As they re- 
tired, other details were made to gather up all the wounded 
who could be carried away on horseback or in wagons, and to 
bring off the captured gun and other property, among which 
was a generous supply of blankets found in the Federal quarters, 
which were greatly needed, as the weather was intensely cold. 

The Confederate troopers, worn out with the exertion of 
the day and dispirited by defeat, went into bivouac about four 
miles from Dover and shivered disconsolately through the freez- 
ing night. The Union reinforcements, sent over from Fort 
Henry by Colonel W. W. Lowe, made no effort to follow. 
The gunboats, five of which came to the rescue of the be- 
leaguered garrison, sent a shower of noisy shells screaming and 
bursting over the frozen hills, but despite all this the detach- 
ment under Colonel Woodward and Major Anderson remained 
on the field until after dark, and brought away a caisson full 
of ammunition captured from the garrison. Here, in a road-side 
house, by the light of a log fire, Generals Wheeler, Wharton, and 
Forrest talked over the dismal failure of the day. The former, 
with singleness of purpose devoted to the cause of the South, his 
personal courage of the highest order, and his brilliant leader- 
ship attested on many more successful occasions than in this dis- 
astrous affair at Dover, wrote his report admitting defeat, and with- 
out a word of criticism for either of his subordinates. Forrest was, 
however, in uncontrollable mood, nor was his irritability rendered 
more easy of concealment by the injury he had received and the 
great fatigue of the day. 

ISO 



GENERAL WHEELERS REPORT 

Major Charles W. Anderson says : " It was late when I reach- 
ed headquarters at Yellow Creek Furnace. Arriving there, I 
asked for General Forrest. The general, recognizing my voice, 
came to the door, and as I was too near frozen to dismount, 
he came out and helped me down and into the house. With- 
out any ceremony he went to the only bed in the room, jerked 
the covering from two of^cers who were occupying it, and 
brusquely ordered them to get out. My boots were pulled 
off, I was rolled up in blankets and put in the vacated bed. 
General Wharton was sitting on the side of the fireplace op- 
posite General Wheeler, who was dictating his report to one of 
his staff. Forrest had resumed his place, lying down on his 
water-proof coat in front of the fire, his head on a turned-down 
chair and his feet well on the hearth. General Wharton said : 
' When the signal was given, my men moved forward, but were 
met with such a severe fire that, with the exception of the Fourth 
Georgia and Malone's battalion, they gave way. As we fell 
back I noticed the garrison from our side of the fort rush across 
to the other side to take part against General Forrest's attack, 
and, as his command caught the fire of the entire garrison, he 
must have suffered severely.' Forrest interrupted him, saying in 
an excited and angry tone, ' I have no fault to find with my men. 
In both charges they did their duty as they have always done.* 
At this moment General Wheeler remarked : ' General Forrest, 
my report does ample justice to yourself and to your men.' For- 
rest replied : * General Wheeler, I advised against this attack, and 
said all a subordinate officer should have said against it, and noth- 
ing you can now say or do will bring back my brave men lying 
dead or wounded and freezing around that fort to-night. I 
mean no disrespect to you ; you know my feelings of personal 
friendship for you; you can have my sword if you demand it; but 
there is one thing I do want you to put in that report to General 
Bragg — tell him that I will be in my coffin before I will fight 
again under your command.' Neither the soldier nor the man in 
'Fighting Joe Wheeler' were ever more in evidence than on this 
occasion. He both knew and appreciated Forrest, admired his 
wonderful genius, and loved him devotedly. He proved this in 
many ways in after -years. Moreover, he knew that when the 
tempest was raging in this wild and rugged nature he could appeal 

151 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

to it more by gentle word and manner than by the strict rules of i 

military discipline. ' Forrest,' he said, quietly and with great ' 

feeling, ' I cannot take your sabre, and I regret exceedingly your . 

determination. As the commanding ofificer I take all the blame ! 

and responsibility for this failure.' " 

After this Wheeler respected in perfect faith Forrest's whim J 

and determination. In Tennessee they served on the oppos- ' 

ing flanks of the army, and at Chickamauga Forrest was on \ 

the right and Wheeler on the left wing. When Wheeler made 'i 

his great raid in Rosecrans's rear early in October, 1863, capt- | 

uring the immense supply - train in Sequatchie Valley, and > 

I 
reducing the Union army in Chattanooga to the verge of star- | 

vation, he left Forrest in east Tennessee, and in the following ] 
month President Davis gave the peerless fighter a separate i 
command, in the district forever famous as " Forrest's Terri- | 
tory." It was difficult for Forrest to brook command from any S 
one. He was born a leader of men, not a follower of man. From i 
childhood his existence had depended upon his own exertion, and 
thus early thrown upon his own resources he had learned to rely 
entirely upon himself — even in his boyhood he asserted his leader- 
ship among his playmates. The rules of discipline which others 
had learned, and which once learned make the man in war a part 
of the machine, were to him a sealed book. The methods of 
these two soldiers were entirely different, and, pursuing them, both 
won undying fame. Their friendship remained steadfast to the end, 
and Forrest had no greater admirer than his former chief of cavalry. 
In 1897, General Wheeler related to the writer the last interview he 
had with General Forrest just a few weeks before his death. " I 
had not seen Forrest for several years, and was struck at the great 
change his malady (chronic diarrhoea) had wrought in his appear- 
ance. His face was pale and thin, and it seemed to me his large 
blue eyes had never looked so clear and penetrating. The stern 
and at times fierce expression which the hard experiences of his 
early career and the more exciting times of war had stamped upon 
his face was gone, and now there was nothing but a gentle look 
as if at last peace were reigning. I could not help but notice the 
massive, broad forehead, seemingly so out of proportion to his at- 
tenuated frame. No wonder, with such a head, he was an extra- 
ordinary man." 

152 



AT COLUMBIA, TENNESSEE 

The losses at Dover on the part of the Confederates were very 
heavy for the number of troops engaged. In Wharton's com- 
mand 17 were killed, 60 wounded, and 8 missing.* Forrest, who 
had not quite 1000 men in the engagement, lost in killed, wounded, 
and captured 200; and among these Colonel Frank McNairy, of 
his staff, was killed. Colonel D. W. Holman, of Napier's battalion, 
wounded, and three captains of this command wounded and capt- 
ured. The Federal commander. Colonel Lowe, on February 4th, 
reported that 135 Confederate dead had been found, and that 
they then held 50 prisoners. Major C. W. Anderson says the loss 
of officers in Starnes's Fourth Tennessee was so great that he was 
ordered to command a detachment of this regiment, and led it in 
the last charge. Colonel Harding, in his official report, gives his 
loss as 13 killed, 51 wounded, and 46 prisoners. On the morning 
of February 4th the Confederates resumed their march in the di- 
rection of Columbia. Being informed of the approach of a col- 
umn of infantry and cavalry under General Jefferson C. Davis, 
they were compelled to make a wide d6tour in the direction of 
Centreville towards Duck River, and there succeeded in crossing 
this stream. On the 17th they were once more in camp at 
Columbia. During the retreat from Dover, Colonel Charles M. 
Carroll and Major G. V. Rambaut, of General Forrest's staff, 
marching with a small detachment of troops in advance of their 
column, having mistaken their direction, took the wrong road, and, 
marching unexpectedly into the head of the troops commanded 
by General Davis, were captured. In the latter part of February, 
Russell's Fourth Alabama regiment, much to his regret, was de- 
tached from Forrest's brigade, and its place was taken by the 
union of Holman's and Douglas's battalions, which were consoli- 
dated to form the Eleventh Tennessee Cavalry. The remnants 
of Cox's and Napier's battalion were also consolidated and placed 
under Forrest, forming the Tenth Tennessee Cavalry. Major 
Anderson says: "General Forrest held the Fourth Alabama in 
high esteem. He always spoke of it as a command he could rely 
upon to accomplish what it was ordered to do."f 

The rough handling at Dover, and the wear and tear of the 

* Official Records, vol. xxiii. part i. p. 41. 
t Manuscripts of Major Anderson. 

153 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

hard campaign in bitter cold weather only served to make Forrest J 
the more eager to get even with the enemy. It was on February h. 
17th that he reached Columbia, and the- next day he was asking t 
permission to make a descent on Nashville. He notified General* 
Wheeler that there were two thousand mules corralled in the ' 
suburbs of Nashville, and as " they are lightly guarded and only ] 
one regiment encamped in that direction, a few hundred men , 
might bring them out."* He was disappointed in the refusal of' 
his request to undertake this expedition. 

On the 1 8th of February a scouting-party of some three hun- ' 
dred Union troopers ventured out from Franklin, but had not i 
proceeded far when they were met by a detachment of his out- ' 
post cavalry under Lieutenant -Colonel Woodward, who drove 
them back. 

The necessity of discipline and drill had not appeared at first 1 
so important to Forrest as it did now with his widening expe- 
rience in arms, and, although very busy at the front, he says in one ; 
of his despatches of this period : " I am going to have my forces ' 
thoroughly organized before I go into the field again. I have ! 
ordered dress-parade twice per week." ! 

Ever on the alert, on February 19th he notified General 
Wheeler that he should be prepared for a strong movement by 1 
the Federals from Franklin. He had positive information that i 
" two regiments of cavalry have reached Franklin, making about 
two thousand cavalry and four thousand infantry. They are evi- 
dently preparing to move out this way, as they are repairing the j 
bridge and putting the telegraph in order. If they should move 
out this way, I think with General Van Dorn's command and 
mine to move from here, Colonel Roddey from Chapel Hill, and 
General Wharton in towards Brentwood, their force can be capt- 
ured or cut to pieces." 

It is noteworthy, as shown by the official despatches and com- 
munications dated prior to the event, in how many instances 
General Forrest during the war was able to forecast with remark- 
able exactness the movements of the enemy which were about to 
occur. In this instance, two weeks elapsed before the advance 
which he predicted in this despatch of February 19th was made. 

* Official Records, vol. xxiii. part ii. p. 638 et seq. 
154 



DEFEATS RECONNAISSANCE OF ROSECRANS 

The troops were concentrated upon it, as he had advised, and the 
command was cut to pieces and captured. 

In the early days of March, 1863, Major-General Rosecrans be- 
came desirous of knowing something more definite of the posi- 
tions and purposes of " the enemy." He ordered various detach- 
ments of his troops to proceed on forced reconnaissances from 
Murfreesborough in the direction of Unionville and Duck River, 
and from Franklin towards Chapel Hill and Spring Hill. It is with 
this latter movement that we have to deal, since Forrest's brigade 
became actively engaged, and, although a subordinate on the 
field, he, after a very considerable fight, came out of the encoun- 
ter by all odds the hero of the day. 

His vigilance, as we have shown, had led to a thorough prepara- 
tion to thwart this reconnaissance in force. Near Thompson's sta- 
tion, on the road along which the Federals were advancing on the 
4th of March, Major-General Earl Van Dorn, who then commanded 
on the left wing of Bragg's army, and who had concentrated the 
cavalry in his department, was stationed. He had five brigades 
in all, commanded by Brigadier-Generals N. B. Forrest, F. C. 
Armstrong, G. B. Cosby, W. T. Martin, and Colonel (acting Briga- 
dier-General) J. W. Whitfield, about six thousand effective troops, 
and with these Captain S. L. Freeman's six guns of Forrest's 
command, and Captain Houston King's Second Missouri battery 
of six pieces belonging to Whitfield's brigade.* With this force 
he marched out from Columbia on the morning of the 4th of 
March and advanced to meet the enemy. 

General W. H. Jackson, commanding a division composed of 
Armstrong's and Whitfield's brigades and King's battery, was 
given the advance, and proceeded at a considerable distance ahead 
of the remaining troops. Arriving within four miles of Franklin, 
they collided with a body of Federal soldiers who were bound 
for Spring Hill, their object being to find out, if possible, what 
Bragg's men there were up to. 

There were in this Federal column 2837 troops, and, in addition, 
the Eighteenth Ohio battery of six long-range Rodman rifled 
cannon. Six hundred of this Union force were of the cavalry ; 
the remainder belonged to the infantry. 

* Official Records, vol. xxiii. part ii. p. 641 
155 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

When Jackson came in sight of them they were so stretched out 
along the white macadamized road, with their long train of eighty 
foraging-wagons and their great array of artillery, cavalry, and in- 
fantry, that the spectacle impressed the Confederate general with 
the idea that there were too many in front of him to attack with- 
out help. He therefore concluded not to advance upon them, 
seeing which the Federal commander concluded to advance upon 
nim. At long range the artillery opened on both sides, and for 
about two hours both commanders seemed to be satisfied with 
this duel at a distance, which made a great deal of noise but did 
very little damage. At last. Colonel John Coburn, of the Thirty- 
third Indiana Infantry (more known to fame after this event than 
before), who commanded the Union soldiers, and did it right well 
and bravely, although he came to grief before he was two days 
older, advanced his cavalry, and there was precipitated a lively 
skirmish with small arms. The result was that the Confederates 
retired in the direction from which they had come, reaching the 
vicinity of Thompson's station, on the Alabama and Tennessee 
railroad, about nightfall. Here they were joined by the balance 
of Van Dorn's cavalry, and, almost in sight of each other, the Fed- 
eral and Confederate columns bivouacked for the night. The cas- 
ualties of the day were small for either side. The honors of the 
artillery duel rested rather with the Confederates, for they had 
succeeded in dismounting one of Coburn's guns, which was sent 
back to Franklin for repairs. 

General Van Dorn says : " During the night my scouts re- 
ported the enemy to be a brigade of infantry, two regiments of 
cavalry, and a body of artillery, and I determined to give them 
battle."* In a military sense this was a very wise conclusion, since 
Van Dorn, having posted himself as to the number of the enemy 
with which he had to deal on the morning, had twice as many 
troops on the ground as his adversary. The information which 
Colonel Coburn obtained, and upon which he intended to act on 
the following day, was not, however, so accurate as that possessed 
by his antagonist. In his ofifiicial report he says: "On the 5th 
of March, soon after daylight, two negro boys, about twelve years 
of age, came into camp and said that they had come from Van 

* Official Records, vol. xxiii. part i. p. 116. 
^156 



BATTLE OF THOMPSON'S STATION 

Dorn's army, and that it was out this side of Spring Hill and was 
coming on to take Franklin."* 

The Union colonel was not pleased with the reported size of 
Van Dorn's army. It grew in his mind, for in his official report 
he stated that there were about fifteen thousand of them ; and 
between the lines one can clearly read that he did not know 
whether to fight or run. Spring Hill looked very much farther 
away than when he started out with the order signed by Brigadier- 
General James A. Garfield, instructing him to proceed to this 
point. In his perplexity he sent back to Franklin to Brigadier- 
General C. C. Gilbert, informing him that he believed there were 
more of the enemy confronting him than his superior officer had an- 
ticipated, and ended his communication with the very pertinent 
inquiry, "What shall we do?" As no answer ever came to this 
question, early on the morning of the 5th Coburn proceeded to 
divest himself of all superfluous baggage by sending one-half of 
his eighty wagons back to Franklin to be cared for by his com- 
manding officer; for now, no matter what might happen, he had 
to go on, and, although he did it bravely and well, it took five 
months for his next despatch to reach General Gilbert, for it was 
dated at Murfreesborough, August 30, 1863. 

Bright and early on the 5th of March, Van Dorn was up and 
busy, and had his men stretched out in line of battle ready and, 
although in superior force, waiting for the Union troops to attack 
him. He had selected an excellent position in the neighborhood 
of Thompson's station, had lined up Armstrong's and Whitfield's 
brigades on either side of the turnpike ; and away off to the right 
of his line, and somewhat to himself (where he always liked to 
be), was Forrest with his brigade and his six pet guns of Free- 
man's battery. Our brigadier-general was never more anxious for 
a fight than at this moment, for he and his men were still smart- 
ing under the bad whipping they had received at Dover. They 
had fought hard there and lost heavily in trying to storm a 
strongly fortified position, and were beaten off ; but now they had 
a chance in the open country, and the men knew from the flushed 
face and the tone and conduct of their leader that a chance at 
close quarters would not be missed on this occasion. 

* Official Records, vol. xxiii, part i. 86. 
• 157 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

Feeling his way along, with as brave a lot of men in blue as any 
soldier ever commanded, Coburn came on, determined to do his 
best. However, he advanced slowly and cautiously — so slowly, in 
fact, that it was not until ten o'clock in the morning that his troops 
were well engaged with the Confederate cavalry. As the Federal 
troops advanced, the Thirty-third and Eighty-fifth Indiana, with 
two guns, formed their right, the Twenty-second Wisconsin and 
Nineteenth Michigan, with three guns, their left wing. To the 
left of this line several companies of dismounted cavalry occupied 
a strong position in a dense thicket of cedars crowning a knoll, 
and just behind this point the remainder of the cavalry were 
formed under the command of Colonel Thomas J, Jordan. The 
One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Ohio was held in reserve with 
the train. With these Coburn advanced by a demonstration of 
his cavalry on his left, and a charge by the two Indiana regiments 
of his right wing. As this movement began the artillery of both 
sides opened with great spirit and with rapid fire. The Federals 
made lively use of their small arms as they came on in gallant 
style under orders to charge King's battery, which was in their im- 
mediate front.* Behind a stone fence, and in excellent position 
for defending these guns, was Whitfield's brigade, which had been 
strengthened by Colonel S. G. Earle's Third Arkansas regiment 
from Armstrong's brigade. 

The charge of the Union cavalry under Jordan was of short 
duration. Forrest, who had the Confederate extreme right, antici- 
pating this effort, ordered Starnes's Fourth Tennessee and Ed- 
mondson's regiments to drive their dismounted troopers from the 
cedar knoll, which they did in quick order. At the same moment 
he advanced the remainder of his line against Jordan's mounted 
force, compelling them to take refuge behind the infantry. See- 
ing his opportunity, with the retirement of the Federal cavalry, 
Forrest hurried Freeman's battery far to the front, and posted it 
so favorably that it swept not only the advancing Federal in- 
fantry in flank, but enfiladed their battery, causing it to limber 
up and leave its position, and with their cavalry to quit the field. 
His entire line was now half a mile in front of the main Confeder- 
ate line of battle. Colonel Jordan says: "In a moment a bat- 

* Official Records, vol. xxiii. part i. p. 88. 
158 



BATTLE OF THOMPSON'S STATION 

tery of the enemy, of four guns, which had heretofore been masked, 
opened upon our flank, completely covering the ground upon which 
our infantry and cavalry were placed, and also completely flank- 
ing our guns."* General Van Dorn says: "While these events 
were occurring on the Confederate left. General Forrest, on the 
extreme right, had pushed forward Captain Freeman's battery to 
a hill in advance of his original position, and completely com- 
manding the enemy's left. The enemy's battery was withdrawn 
from the cross-fire of this and King's battery, and did not return 
to the field. The cavalry, with one regiment of infantry, after 
offering some resistance to General Forrest, precipitately left the 
field."t 

At this juncture the charging Federal infantry had reached 
within two hundred yards of Whitfield's men crouching behind 
the stone wall. These now arose with a well-directed volley, im- 
mediately following which they leaped the fence and charged 
upon the Union line. With this destructive fire and counter- 
charge from the front, and Forrest's battery playing on their flank 
and his troopers pushing Jordan's cavalry from the Union left, no 
wonder the Indianians broke and fled back across the swale and 
on behind the hill on which they had first been aligned. 

Here, although their cavalry and artillery, deeming discretion 
the better part of valor, had fled the field, the men on foot were 
rallied. Colonel Coburn says of his troopers, after Forrest had 
chased them from the field : " I saw them no more, although I sent 
for them." The Confederates under Whitfield and Earle dashed up 
the hill, behind which their plucky enemy had halted to dispute 
their advance, and here they turned upon their pursuers with 
splendid courage, driving them back down the hill and into the 
valley to their former position, where the thwarted Southerners 
held their own. 

General Van Dorn again ordered his troops to drive the Fed- 
erals from the hill they still so stubbornly held. Whitfield and 
Earle for the second time went at them, and Armstrong's entire 
brigade joined with them in the charge. The Nineteenth Michi- 
gan and Twenty-second Wisconsin rushed to reinforce their com- 
rades, and a fierce combat at close quarters ensued, in which the 

* Official Records, vol. xxiii. part i. p. 8i. f ibid. p. ii6. 

159 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

Southerners again failed to drive them from the coveted position. 
Armstrong was badly handled in this affray, and left his battle- 
flag in the possession of the Michiganders. In this dilemma, For- 
rest, who had already without orders pushed his men and artillery 
nearly half a mile beyond the Confederate line of battle, and had 
driven the Union cavalry and artillery from the scene, now charged 
on the flank and rear, and thus closed all hope of escape. As his 
troops swept down on the Union flank the Twenty-second Wis- 
consin broke, and about one-half of this regiment scattered in the 
woods like frightened partridges, and many of them thus escaped 
capture, however, only to be taken by Forrest at Brentwood 
twenty days later, Major-General Van Dorn had also considered 
the possibilities of this movement and had ordered it to be done, 
but Forrest had accomplished the result independently of his 
chief, who ofificially acknowledged that " the final charge by Gen- 
eral Forrest decided the fate of the day." 

As Coburn retired, his brigade was still in compact order and 
thorough organization. He says : " Here we met and attacked 
Forrest's division, which had gained our rear, and had been post- 
ed behind fences, trees, and other favorable positions. The bri- 
gade was formed with fixed bayonets," etc. 

It was a cardinal point of Forrest's military " make-up " never to 
stand and take a charge, but, as he expressed it, to " charge too." 
Seeing Coburn's manoeuvre, he says : " I ordered a charge, which 
was gallantly led by Colonel Biffle and Lieutenant-Colonel Treze- 
vant, commanding Cox's regiment. The enemy opened a heavy 
fire upon us. Lieutenant-Colonel Trezevant fell mortally wound- 
ed, and Captain Montgomery Little, of my escort, was killed. 
When within twenty feet of their line the enemy threw down 
their arms and surrendered. The two regiments with my escort 
numbered about five hundred and sixty men ; the balance of ef- 
fective strength were holding horses. We captured from twelve 
to fifteen hundred officers and privates."'* Thus closed this spirit- 



* In addition to Colonels Coburn and Gilbert, Major W. R. Shafter, who 
in 1898 became the commander-in-chief in the successful campaign against the 
Spanish forces at Santiago, was captured in this charge by Forrest. It is stated 
in the Official Records, although the surrender was unconditional, that " the 
bravery of these Union troops who had been captured was so conspicuous 

160 



LOSSES AT THOMPSON'S STATION 

ed affair, and for Forrest and his men " honors were easy." The 
defeat at Dover was cancelled. 

No sooner had the Union commander thrown up the sponge 
than Forrest directed a strong detachment to mount their horses 
and pursue the flying cavalry and artillery, and the One Hundred 
and Twenty -fourth Ohio Infantry, which, being in reserve, had 
gone to the rear with the wagons. These troops had, however, 
such a " running start " that only some seventy-five captures were 
effected, and chiefly from the regiments which had borne the brunt 
of the fighting. The Ohio regiment did not lose a man. The 
Union cavalry lost twenty-seven in all, and their artillery had only 
one man wounded. 

Just before the surrender, Forrest was unhorsed by the killing of 
his favorite charger, " Roderick," a noble animal, presented to him 
by Mr. Cocke, of Tennessee. The general led the final assault on 
foot. Of his command there were on the field about 1700 men — 
viz., Biffle's regiment, which lost 6 killed and 15 wounded ; Cox's 
regiment, i killed and 9 wounded ; Edmondson's regiment, 9 
wounded; Starnes's Fourth Tennessee, 2 killed and 21 wounded; 
McCann's battalion, 3 wounded and 2 missing; escort, i (Captain 
Little) mortally wounded; total, 69. Lieutenant John Johnson, 
of Biffle's regiment, was killed while at the front with the colors. 
Private Clay Kendrick caught the flag as it was falling, and held 
it aloft until his arm was broken with a bullet, when he seized 
it with his uninjured arm, and carried it until Coburn surrendered. 

In addition to Forrest's brigade, General Van Dorn had in this 
action the First and Twenty-eighth Mississippi, of Cosby's brigade, 
about seven hundred in number, which arrived near the close of 
the fighting, and took only a small part in the affair, their loss 
being three wounded. The regiments of Colonels T. G. Wood- 
ward and J. B. Ballantine, also under Cosby, were in reserve and 
did not come into action. There were about 1400 of this brigade 
on the field and available. 

The chief loss on the Southern side fell to Whitfield's and Arm- 
strong's brigades in the several attacks and counter-attacks gal- 
lantly made and withstood by both sides for the possession of 

that Forrest permitted the officers to retain their horses and side-arras." — 
Vol. xxiii. part i. p. 8^. 

L 161 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

" Coburn's Hill." Of the former the Third Texas lost 7 killed, 25 
wounded, and 2 missing ; the Sixth Texas, 2 killed and 34 wound- 
ed ; Ninth Texas, 3 killed, 19 wounded, and i missing ; and " Whit- 
field's Legion," 1 1 killed, 59 wounded, and 7 missing. Total en- 
gaged, about 1400 — killed, 23; wounded, 137; missing, 10. In 
Armstrong's brigade the Third Arkansas lost 6 killed and 28 
wounded ; the Fourth Mississippi, 9 killed and 37 wounded ; 
Saunders's battalion, 14 wounded ; Jenkins's squadron, 2 killed and 
12 wounded. Total engaged, about 900. 

The Confederates had in action and in reserve in this engage- 
ment, including the two batteries, at a fair estimate, 6000 men. 
Their antagonists, according to Colonel Coburn's ofificial report, 
had 2837 men and five guns. His entire cavalry reported as 600, 
with four regiments of infantry and the cavalry in action, about 
2450 in all. They lost in the Thirty-third Indiana, 17 killed, 14 
mortally wounded, 69 wounded and recovered. The Twenty- 
second Wisconsin, 7 killed and 19 wounded ; Nineteenth Michi- 
gan, 20 killed, 13 mortally wounded, 79 wounded and recovered; 
Eighty-fifth Indiana, 13 killed, 21 wounded and recovered; Ninth 
Pennsylvania Cavalry, 2 killed and 7 wounded ; Second Michigan 
Cavalry, 2 killed and 11 wounded. Total killed and mortally 
wounded, 88 ; wounded and recovered, 206 ; total casualties, 292. 
The One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Ohio, about one-half the 
Wisconsin Regiment, and all the cavalry escaped, excepting 26 
troopers killed, wounded, or captured, giving a total in Federal 
loss of about 1500 officers and men. 

The Union forces placed hors de combat 357 Confederates; the 
fight made by Colonel Coburn and the men of the four regiments 
who stayed with him was worthy of the admiration of their victors. 
Had his cavalry held fast, and had the Ohio regiment been added, 
he might have effected a retreat towards Franklin far enough to 
have been reached by reinforcements. With the great superior- 
ity in numbers, it would seem that better generalship might have 
succeeded in the capture of the entire Union command. General 
Van Dorn knew almost exactly the strength of his adversary the 
night before the engagement, and he had troops in abundance to 
have interposed in Coburn's rear enough cavalry to have prevent- 
ed his retreat and insured the capture of all the enemy's wag- 
ons, artillery, and practically all of his force. Had Forrest been 

162 



HOW THOMPSON'S STATION WAS TAKEN 

in command, the tactics of Brice's Cross-Roads and the terrible 
pursuit made on that famous field would in all likelihood have 
been anticipated at Thompson's station. The general of the 
army and the powers at Richmond had not yet the discernment 
to see his great ability. It dawned upon them later, only when 
stern necessity forced the recognition, but too late for the success 
of the cause. 

General Forrest, in his report of this engagement, says: "By 
the time the disposition of our force was made, the firing began 
from the enemy's artillery, and, finding I had no position bearing 
upon the enemy with my artillery, I ordered Captain S. L. Free- 
man forward with his battery to a high hill, which placed it ad- 
vantageously for operating on the enemy's left flank. As this 
was fully half a mile in advance of my first position, I ordered up 
all the regiments of my brigade on foot to a line parallel with 
that hill, and nearly at right angles to the pike. I found two 
regiments of infantry and a regiment of the Federal cavali^ 
posted behind a stone fence to the left of their artillery. A few 
shells from my guns drove them from their position to the. :ight 
of their battery, and, after about twenty rounds, drove it from 
its position, retreating by the pike towards Franklin. At this time 
I was ordered to move forward, and, if possible, get in the rear of 
the enemy. Ordering up all my troops, we attacked vigorously, 
and disposed of that portion of the enemy's force moving on the 
turnpike. The main force of the enemy was posted on the hill 
in front of Thompson's station and to the left of the pike, and 
had driven back several times the forces under Generals Arm- 
strong and Whitfield and my two regiments under Colonels 
Starnes and Edmondson. I now moved Cox's and Biffle's regi- 
ments rapidly across the pike in the rear of the enemy, and found 
they had taken a strong position and were ready to receive us. I 
immediately ordered the charge, which was led by Bififle and 
Trezevant, commanding Cox's regiment. The enemy opened a 
heavy fire upon us, the first volley mortally wounding Lieutenant- 
Colonel Trezevant and Captain Montgomery Little, who com- 
manded my escort. The men continued to charge to within 
twenty feet of the Federal line of battle, when the enemy threw 
down their arms and surrendered." 

163 



CHAPTER VIII 

BRENTWOOD AND FRANKLIN 

A Night Foray within the Union Lines — Capture of a Fortified Camp at Brentwood, 
March 25th, 1863, with over Five Hundred Prisoners, a Depot of Supplies, Wagons, 
etc. — Capture of a Strong Stockade, with Two Hundred and Thirty Prisoners, and 
Destruction of Harpeth Bridge — Rapid Retreat and more Rapid Pursuit — Stampede 
of Train-Guard and Recapture of the Wagons — Sudden Appearance of Forrest and 
Starnes — Defeat and Flight of the Federal Cavalry — They Abandon the Wagons — 
General Green Clay Smith's Report — The General of the Army in "General 
O'ders" Congratulates Forrest on His "Brilliant and Successful Achievements" — 
Hot Words between Van Dorn and Forrest — Reconnaissance and Engagement at 
Franklin, Tennessee, April loth, 1863 — Van Dorn Attacks Granger — Forrest's 
Division in Action — Surprise of Starnes and Capture of Four Guns of Freeman's 
Battery by the Fourth U. S. Regular Cavalry — Death of Captain S. L. Freeman — 
Recapture of the Battery and Defeat of the Federals by Starnes — Van Dorn and 
Jackson Repulsed — A Day of Blunders for Both Sides. 

LEAVING a strong line of pickets in the neighborhood of 
^ Franklin, General Van Dorn, on the evening of the 5th of 
March, taking the prisoners and captured property, with- 
drew his force to Spring Hill, and soon thereafter to the neigh- 
borhood of Columbia. With the large opposing armies so near 
each other, the cavalry could not long remain idle. On March 
nth, Forrest, now intrusted with a division of two brigades, was 
ordered to the line of Rutherford Creek, to hold in check a strong 
force of cavalry backed by a reserve infantry column of 4572 men, 
reported as advancing upon the Confederate outposts north of 
Duck River.* This movement was under the immediate direc- 
tion of Brigadier-General Philip H. Sheridan, and for the first and 
only time these two great soldiers were face to face. Born lead- 
ers of their kind, both possessing in a wonderful degree that per- 
sonal magnetism which attracts men and holds them captive to 
control, each in his way a genius in the art of war, and both loving 
a fight, it is a wonder that they did not here cross sabres. For- 

* Official Records, vol. xxiii. part i. p. 115. 
164 



FORAY WITHIN THE UNION LINES 

rest not only knew that Sheridan was strong enough to overwhelm 
him, but he was also under orders to cover a withdrawal of the 
troops across Duck River, then greatly swollen, and he could not 
hazard a collision. On the 9th of March, Starnes's Fourth Ten- 
nessee, then on picket-duty near Thompson's station, with one of 
Armstrong's regiments was attacked by a brigade of Sheridan's 
cavalry under Colonel Robert H. G. Minty, and another brigade 
under General Green Clay Smith. Skirmishing with his assailants 
with characteristic stubbornness, Starnes fought his way back to 
join his chief that night south of Spring Hill. On the loth, Sheri- 
dan essayed to cross Rutherford Creek at a ford one and a half 
miles above the Burnt Bridge, on the Spring Hill and Columbia 
road. Colonel Minty says : " Found the water very deep and 
rapid, and while making the examination were under fire of a rebel 
force posted close to the bank. The Fourth Indiana had two men 
killed and three severely wounded. We camped at Moore's Ford, 
one mile higher up the creek. March nth, General Forrest, with 
five hundred men, advanced to the opposite side. A sharp fire 
was opened on him. Lieutenant Newell opened on them with his 
gun, and drove them to the woods. I then crossed the creek, and 
as I formed on the south bank the enemy dismounted and, with 
their battle-flag flying, advanced. I sent General Green Clay Smith 
with a regiment to the left, to get in their rear, and the Fourth 
Michigan to the right. Perceiving our object, they remounted and 
retired. At Duck River, Van Dorn's entire force had crossed dur- 
ing the day on a pontoon-bridge and a ferryboat."* Had General 
Sheridan, with his two brigades, pushed forward with his usual vim, 
Forrest might not have escaped so easily with his own command ; 
for when he reached Duck River the pontoon-bridge had been 
swept away by the increasing current, and the nearest other point of 
crossing was twenty-five miles distant. Without halting he rode 
all night, and happily found this avenue of escape still unoccupied 
by a hostile force. But Sheridan as well as Forrest was not untram- 
melled by orders. General G. C. Gilbert had despatched General 
James A. Garfield as follows : " General Sheridan will do well to 
approach with caution Van Dorn's command — it is probably not 
less than ten thousand men, well trained and well handled." f The 

* Official Records, vol. xxiii. part i. p. 131. t Hid. p. 115. 

165 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

Union troops returned to Franklin, and on the same day Forrest i 
reported at Columbia. The pontoon-bridge was at once replaced, 
and he, with his division, composed of his own and Armstrong's ■ 
brigades, recrossed and followed the retiring Federals, reoccupying 
his old quarters at Spring Hill on March 15th. General Forrest ! 
was now assigned to independent outpost duty in this locality, ; 
his picket-line extending from Thompson's station to the vicinity ' 
of College Grove on Harpeth River. Beyond the picket-posts j 
Forrest kept a swarm of his trusted scouts, who penetrated the 
enemy's lines around Franklin and Nashville in search of infor- , 
mation as to the strength and position of the various outlying | 
detachments. Through these he learned that at and near Brent- ; 
wood, a station on the Nashville and Franklin railroad, about 
nine miles from the latter place, were stationed two detachments 
of Union troops from the Twenty -second Wisconsin and the 
Nineteenth Michigan Infantry, some eight hundred in all, which 
were distant from each other about one and a half miles. They i 
were therefore sufficiently isolated to justify the hope of striking ; 
them in detail, capturing and bringing them away before succor 1 
could arrive. There were five hundred and twenty-one men of li 
the Wisconsin regiment in a fortified position near the fork of the I 
Wilson and Franklin pikes, which commanded these approaches | 
and the depot of supplies at the railroad station. The timber in i 
all directions had been felled in order to prevent surprise, and to 
enable the garrison to cover an advancing enemy. Within a i; 
stockade immediately adjacent to the railroad bridge over the 
Harpeth River, and one and a half miles distant from the camp at | 
Brentwood, were two hundred and thirty men of the Nineteenth | 
Michigan Infantry. It will be remembered that in the engage- j 
ment at Thompson's station on March 5th this Michigan regi- f 
ment had greatly distinguished itself, and these troops were the Ij 
remnant of that command either not on duty on that expedition tj 
or escaping from the field. The Wisconsin troops had also been |j 
there under Colonel Coburn; and while a portion of the regiment | 
had remained under Colonel Utley, fought well, and were capt- | 
ured, about one-half of this command, when Forrest made his |j 
charge by the flank and rear, fell into disorder, and, under Lieu- i; 
tenant -Colonel E. Bloodgood, had quit the field in time to es- j 
cape capture. General Forrest asked permission to attack these 

?6$ 



CHASING UNION CAVALRY TO BRENTWOOD 

garrisons, and Van Dorn readily assented. On March 24th, Starnes, 
in command of the old Forrest Brigade, was directed to proceed 
in the direction of Brentwood, and, leaving Franklin to the left, 
to cross Harpeth River six miles east of the town. 

From this point he was to send a force along the turnpike 
and railroad between Brentwood and Franklin, cut the telegraph 
wires, tear up the railroad track, despatch two regiments to attack 
the stockade, while the Fourth Tennessee was to be posted so as 
to prevent escape in the direction of Nashville or Triune. Colonel 
Starnes was to be on the ground and to attack on daylight of the 
25th, with the understanding that Forrest, with Armstrong's bri- 
gade and the artillery, would join him by that hour and co-oper- 
ate with him in the assault. 

In obedience to orders, Starnes moved out with BifiFle's regiment, 
his own Fourth Tennessee under Captain W. S. McLemore, and a 
part of Edmondson's regiment, and at midnight crossed the Har- 
peth at Davis's Mill. Fifteen men were sent forward to capture 
the enemy's pickets, which they failed to accomplish. The sen- 
tries wounded two of this detachment and alarmed the garrison. 
One of the sentries rode rapidly into Franklin and notified Gen- 
eral Granger of the attack, and this soldier soon had the Union 
cavalry under Smith marching towards Brentwood. Before three 
o'clock Starnes had reached the Wilson turnpike near Brentwood, 
cut the telegraph wires, and destroyed the track near Mallory 
station. A strong picket force was then stationed on the Franklin 
turnpike at Holly-Tree Gap. This accomplished, six companies 
under Captain P. H. McBride were sent forward to take position 
behind the top of a hill some three hundred and fifty yards east 
of the fortified camp at Brentwood. Edmondson's regiment was, 
as a precaution against surprise, stationed some distance in the 
rear. Everything was now in readiness for the assault whenever 
(as was expected) at daylight General Forrest should arrive upon 
the opposite side of the camp of the enemy. Daylight came, but 
Armstrong and the artillery and General Forrest did not appear. 
Deeming himself too weak to attack so strong a place without 
cannon, and having waited until half past seven for his com- 
mander, Starnes, not doubting that Forrest had been compelled 
by some unexpected circumstance to abandon the undertaking, 
proceeded to extricate his command, and withdrew rapidly to the 
• 167 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

Hillsborough pike. Here he learned to his great chagrin that hisj 
chieftain had passed on by another road towards Brentwood at an ,( 
early hour that morning. 

Forrest had met with unlooked-for delay in getting across the| 
Harpeth with his two guns, and when he reached the rendezvous! 
Starnes had left. Nothing daunted, however, he straightway pro-! 
ceeded to business. Two companies of the Tenth Tennessee,? 
under most explicit instructions, were hurried down the Hillsbor-I 
ough pike to guard his rear. There was not to be on this occa- '' 
sion a repetition of the Parker's Cross-Roads surprise. Two other I 
companies were ordered to the pike in rear of the enemy to pre-, 
vent their escape, and to warn him of the approach of succor from| 
that direction. The remaining six companies and his escort For-| 
rest led in person to the right of the road running from the Hills-; 
borough pike to Brentwood. To the left of this road he ordered! 
Armstrong to move with his brigade and two of Freeman's gunsl 
and at once attack the enemy at Brentwood. Riding with hisl 
escort at this moment rapidly to the Franklin turnpike, Forrest^ 
captured a courier with a despatch from Colonel E. Bloodgood, 
commanding the fortified camp, to his superior at Franklin, ask- 
ing for help. By this time the Union skirmishers were encoun- 
tered, and Forrest directed Major Charles W. Anderson, with a 
white handkerchief on the tip of his sabre, to advance and de-| 
mand the usual immediate and unconditional surrender, with thef 
" Murfreesborough attachment" of "no quarter" if resistance were! 
made. Not fully convinced of the vulnerability of his position,! 
Colonel Bloodgood politely invited the Confederate general tofij 
"come and take him if he could." The Confederate general was| 
pleased to accept the invitation. The six companies of Cox's |i 
Tenth Tennessee then present were dismounted and ordered to at-fil 
tack the Federal position in front, while Armstrong was directed to 
move up with his men on foot and Freeman's artillery and attack ! 
from the other side. Meanwhile Colonel Bloodgood was not alto- j 
gether idle. At a very early hour that morning, when Starnes had 
rudely awakened him, he had loaded and hitched up his wagon- i 
train in the hope of escaping in the direction of Nashville. Sev- 
eral companies of his command were formed as the advance-guard 
of his retreating column. Thinking he might now make a run for it ! 
and break through before the cordon was complete, he started for I 

i68 i 



COLONEL BLOODGOOD'S SURRENDER 

Nashville. As the advance companies moved off, they had not 
proceeded over four hundred yards before Forrest attacked them 
with his escort, and they rushed back to the fortified camp. Colo- 
nel Bloodgood reports : " The last wagon had not left the camp 
when those in front were stopped by the enemy. The advanced 
companies had opened fire." At this juncture Major DeMoss, with 
the six companies of the Tenth Tennessee, drove in the Union skir- 
mishers and was closing in on the Federal position from the front. 
The escort had followed the flying train -guard to within short 
range of their stronghold, and with equal eagerness Armstrong 
came up from the opposite quarter and Freeman ran his guns into 
" battery." Then Colonel Bloodgood's heart sank within him. He 
reports : " I had barely time to post the other companies before I 
discovered that we were completely surrounded by the enemy in 
overwhelming force ; they advanced rapidly, pressing me closely, 
and soon brought a battery of two pieces of artillery close up to 
my lines. I had no hope of aid from any quarter. I therefore 
deemed it best to surrender. The contest, from the opening of 
our fire to the time when the enemy had succeeded in surround- 
ing me and was about bringing his artillery to bear, was from 
twenty-five to thirty minutes in duration." The troops surren- 
dered here, which General Gordon Granger intimated were of 
the " milk-and-water variety," were 521 men and officers of the 
Twenty- second Wisconsin, with a number of teamsters and a 
large supply of stores in the depot, and camp equipage, tents, 
etc. 

Fully aware of the fact that his position thus far within the en- 
emy's lines, and between two large bodies of troops stationed at 
Nashville and Franklin, was one of great danger, Forrest, before 
hastening to attack the stockade at the Harpeth railroad bridge, 
ordered his faithful lieutenant, General Armstrong, to hurry the 
prisoners, arms, wagons, and all portable captured property towards 
the Hillsborough pike, and thence to the rear, and then to destroy 
the depot, tents, and everything which could not be carried away. 
He also at this time directed Colonel J. H. Lewis, of the Sixth 
Tennessee Cavalry, to dash down the highway towards Nashville, 
drive in the enemy's pickets at that quarter, and create the impres- 
sion that an attack was there impending. General Forrest, now 
with the Fourth Mississippi and Tenth Tennessee, his escort, 
' 169 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

and Freeman's two guns, scurried away at breakneck speed over 
the mile and a half between Brentwood and the Harpeth bridge 
and stockade, and without any preliminary parley surrounded the 
position, unlimbered one of the guns, and fired a salute which sent 
the echoes reverberating over the hills and the splinters flying 
among the astonished Michiganders who composed the garrison. 
Turning to Major Anderson, of his staff, Forrest said : " Major, 
take in a flag of truce, and tell them I have them completely sur- 
rounded, and if they don't surrender I'll blow hell out of them in 
five minutes and won't take one of them alive if I have to sacri- 
fice my men in storming their stockade." The staff-officer searched 
in vain for the white handkerchief used at Brentwood. It was the 
only one in the command, and had been lost. " Strip off your 
shirt, major !" said the general, fully appreciative of the humor of 
the situation. Off came the garment (not the whitest of linen, for 
in those busy days of war the laundry was an unknown quantity), 
and, tying the shirt to his sword, away rode the messenger of 
peace. Captain Bassett and the garrison took in the situation and 
surrendered. 

The Federal official records show that 230 officers and men of 
the Twenty -second Michigan Infantry were surrendered. The 
other members of this regiment had done very creditable fighting 
under Colonel Coburn on March 5th. 

Colonel James Gordon, commanding the Fourth Mississippi, of 
Armstrong's brigade, says : " General Forrest led the advance in 
person, followed by one piece of artillery and my squadrons. One 
gun was fired, and the fort surrendered."* 

General Forrest reports the capture here of 275 prisoners, eleven 
wagons, and three ambulances.f The railroad bridge and all sup- 
plies which could not be brought off were destroyed, and the 
prisoners and troops hurried away towards Spring Hill via the 
Hillsborough pike. 

So far the expedition was to the Confederate leader, notwith- 
standing the absence of Starnes's brigade, a gratifying success, and 
without the loss of a man. Colonel Bloodgood reported the Con- 
federates that captured him as from five to eight thousand men. 
There were present only Forrest's escort, numbering sixty, the 

* Official Records, vol. xxiii. part i. p. 190. t Ibid. p. 188. 

170 



li 



A BOASTFUL FEDERAL 

Fourth Mississippi, Tenth and Sixth Tennessee regiments, and 
two guns — the whole force available for assault not over looo. In 
fact, the Sixth Tennessee only arrived in time to see the surren- 
der, and " were not engaged " at Brentwood ;* and had Colonel 
Bloodgood, with his 750 effective men and teamsters and other 
camp retainers, made as gallant a struggle as their comrades did 
at Thompson's station, they would in all probability have held the 
Confederates off until help arrived, for Forrest says: "Before the 
rear of my command reached the Hillsborough pike, they were at- 
tacked by a force of Federal cavalry." 

It was at this moment that trouble began. Major- General 
Gordon Granger, a vigilant ofificer, who in this same year of 1863, 
at Chickamauga, won an enviable fame by his " march to Thomas " 
in the crisis of that battle, and who during that movement was 
violently assaulted by Forrest, was now almost in contact with 
this intrepid cavalryman. His headquarters were in Franklin at 
this date, and when Starnes struck the two Federal outposts, five 
and seven miles distant, between three and four o'clock on the 
morning of the 25th, one of these escaped, and came tearing like 
a modern Paul Revere into Franklin at daylight, and roused the 
sleeping major-general and the garrison. Granger hastened to the 
telegraph office to warn Colonel Bloodgood, but, alas, too late ! 
Starnes had cut the wires. He says : " Soon after daylight, my 
pickets on the Columbia, Carter's Creek, and Hillsborough roads 
were attacked. I had sent the balance of the cavalry to look after 
the train and guards at Brentwood." f 

The cavalry sent out to save Brentwood and the bridge consist- 
ed of the Second Michigan, Ninth Pennsylvania, Fourth and Sixth 
Kentucky (Union) cavalry regiments, under Brigadier -General 
Green Clay Smith ; and according to the official report of this 
affair by this general, he wrought tremendous havoc among the 
Confederates. The boastful and extravagant tone of this docu- 
ment brings to mind the well-known lines of Praed : 

" There was a dragon in Arthur's time. 
When dragons and griffins were quoted prime. 
Of monstrous reputation ; 

* Official Records, vol. xxiii. part i. p. 191. t Ibid. p. 177. 

• 171 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

Up and down and far and wide 

He roamed about in his scaly pride, f; 

And ever at morn and even-tide j 

He made such rivers of blood to run, i' 

As shocked the sight of the burning sun, I. 

And deluged half the nation." \ 

i 

When Smith reached Brentwood, he says : " The rebels had ac- 
complished their work, burned the bridge, captured the infantry >\ 
posted there, and were moving westerly with our wagons, guns, j 
and prisoners." The Ninth Pennsylvania, the two Kentucky regi- i 
ments, and a portion of the Second Michigan were despatched , 
rapidly after the flying raiders. The balance of the Michiganders I 
were sent, by another route in the same general direction, to close | 
in on the rear of the captured train. Three and a half miles from | 
Brentwood the tail of the procession was struck. I 

As soon as the prisoners at Brentwood were captured, details ;j 
from Armstrong's brigade had been called off and the Federals ij 
were marched at a rapid pace to the rear. The second detach- 
ment taken at Harpeth-bridge stockade followed in quick order; 
the slower-moving wagons came next, and then the work of de- 
struction was completed. 

Lewis's Sixth Tennessee went towards Nashville as ordered, 
drove in the various pickets in sight of the capital, made some 
captures, marched half-way round that city, and on the 27th, 
without loss, rejoined its brigade at Spring Hill, bringing a wagon 
and team taken within three miles of Nashville. The companies 
of the Tenth Tennessee and Fourth Mississippi (about four hun- 
dred men left after the detail to guard prisoners had been made) |i 
were, under General Armstrong, directed to follow and protect the ; 
captured train. The Tenth Tennessee was in the rear, but was 
destined not long to occupy this position. A dozen stragglers from : 
one of Armstrong's regiments, seeking what they might devour, , 
had lingered too long about the burning storehouse at Brent- \ 
wood, and were leisurely following in the wake of the rear-guard, i 
when they suddenly found themselves run into by the Sixth Ken- j 
tucky and Second Michigan Cavalry in columns of fours, with 
drawn sabres and at full speed. Without firing a shot or making i 
resistance enough to give Major DeMoss warning that the Union | 
troopers were so close upon him in force, this straggling squad | 

172 I j 



TURNING A ROUT INTO VICTORY 

stampeded and dashed into the rear company of the Tennessee 
detachment, throwing them into a panic which spread throughout 
the command like a prairie-fire. In utter and ridiculous confusion 
these troops, accustomed to different conduct in the presence of 
an enemy, broke and converted their organization into a help- 
less mob, each struggling to outrun the other. Some kept to the 
road, while others took to the woods and by-ways for escape. 
The luckless runaways mounted on slow horses were having an 
unhappy time of it in the rear, and a number were sabred and 
captured.* Colonel Gordon, with only three companies of his 
Fourth Mississippi, was in front, and heard the stampede in time 
to throw one company into line, and about two hundred yards 
farther back the other two companies were formed. The Union 
advance was in this way temporarily checked, but the Seventh 
Pennsylvania, lining up behind the Kentuckians, and swinging 
around Gordon's flank, soon sent him and his Mississippians in wild 
retreat in the wake of the remnant of the Tenth Tennessee. The 
Federals had now retaken many of the wagons loaded with the 
captured property and promptly turned them about towards 
Franklin. Forrest, who with his escort and the guns had reached 
the head of the retiring column, having heard of the disaster at 
the rear, now hastily retraced his steps and took charge of affairs. 
With the escort he threw himself in front of the frightened, panic- 
stricken men, and ordered them to halt and fall in line. Seeing 
that some of these paid no attention to his command, he seized a 
double -barrel shot-gun from one of his men, and emptied both 
barrels into a squad of the dismayed troopers who refused to halt. 
This radical measure was immediately effective, and he was soon 
able to make a very respectable showing with the troops he had 
rallied. f 

Fortunately, Starnes, who earlier in the morning had gone in 
pursuit of a foraging-train some two miles distant from his posi- 
tion on the Hillsborough pike, hearing that the captured train had 
been followed by Smith's brigade, hurried back and came on the 
scene just as Forrest was rallying the disordered troops of Arm- 
strong's brigade. With Forrest and Starnes at hand. General Green 

* The Tenth Tennessee lost i killed, 3 wounded, and 19 captured. 
t Mr. Nat Baxter, Jr., of Nashville, Tennessee, witnessed this incident. 

173 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

Clay Smith found he had some very serious business before him. 
His chief, General Granger, says: "At this juncture, and as suc- 
cess seemed certain, Forrest came on with a strong brigade on the 
left, and General Smith was forced to fall back on Brentwood, 
burning a portion of the wagons and destroying such arms as he 
could not bring away."* Colonel J. W, Starnes reports: "I 
charged them, which caused them to fall back with great precipita- 
tion. They were retreating very rapidly when General Forrest 
ordered us to return." f Forrest says: "They succeeded in get- 
ting possession of several of the wagons captured at the stockade, 
and cut out and stampeded the mules. The enemy were repulsed 
and driven back to Brentwood, but, having no teams, several of the 
wagons were burned. We brought away three ambulances and 
harness, nine six-horse wagons and teams and harness, two two- 
horse wagons, sixty mules and six horses, which were placed in 
charge of the assistant quartermaster at Columbia. Many of the 
command who had inferior guns, muskets, shot-guns, etc., ex- 
changed them on the field, placing their old guns in the wagons 
in lieu of them.":|: 

The entire Confederate loss in this expedition was one officer 
and three men killed, three officers and thirteen men wounded, and 
thirty-nine men captured or missing ; total, fifty-nine. The Union 
loss was four killed, nineteen wounded, and four missing, in Smith's 
pursuing cavalry ; and 750 officers and men captured at Brent- 
wood and Harpeth bridge, all of whom were brought away in 
safety. Total loss, 758 — not including teamsters and other em- 
ployes. General Smith's report reads like a page from the his- 
tory of the Knight of Salamanca: "The loss of the enemy was 
not less, in the judgment of my officers and myself, than from 
four to five hundred in killed, wounded, and prisoners. My men 
shot with wonderful and fearful aim. The five-shooters of the 
Second Michigan, and the rapidity with which the Burnside carbine 
could be loaded, poured such a constant and deadly volley into 
their ranks, and felled so many, that but for such overwhelming 
forces, numbering not less than five thousand, our success would 
have been unquestioned. Captain Kimmel (of the Seventh Penn- 
sylvania), when falling back, came across some fifteen or twenty 

* Official Records, vol. xxiii. part i. p. 178. f Ibid. p. 184, % Ibid. p. 188. 

174 



BRAGG'S ''PRIDE AND GRATIFICATION" 

loaded guns. He stood, fired, and broke, until all were unloaded 
at the enemy and broken over a tree. It was a good deed, and he 
deserves praise."* Brigadier-General James A. Garfield, chief of 
staff to Major-General W. S. Rosecrans, complimenting Smith's re- 
port with seeming redulity, congratulated him and his command 
of "six or seven hundred of the Second Michigan, Ninth Penn- 
sylvania, Fourth and Sixth Kentucky, upon the cavalry battle of 
Little Harpeth with the rebel cavalry under Forrest, Starnes, and 
Bififle."t The facts are that six or seven hundred Union cavalry, 
excellent and tried soldiers, with the most modern and effective 
weapons of that period (five-shooting rifles and Burnside breech- 
loading carbines), attacked vigorously less than five hundred Con- 
federate cavalry guarding a captured train, threw the guard into 
panic, and ran them for several miles, recapturing a greater portion 
of the train. Forrest and Starnes then came to the rescue with a 
superior force, and drove the Federals back almost as rapidly as 
they had advanced, recaptured or caused the enemy to burn the 
wagons, and then marched with the prisoners and the remainder of 
the train to the rear. Not a single Federal prisoner was recaptured. 
General Braxton Bragg, on March 31st, officially announced to 
the army " with pride and gratification two brilliant and success- 
ful affairs achieved by the cavalry of Major-General Van Dorn. 
On the 5th inst. Major-General Van Dorn made a gallant charge 
upon a large force of the enemy at Thompson's station. He 
routed them, killed and wounded a large number, and captured 
122 1 prisoners, including 73 commissioned ofificers and many arms. 
On the 25th, Brigadier-General Forrest, with the troops of his com- 
mand, daringly assailed the enemy at Brentwood, who could not 
withstand the vigor and energy of the attack and surrendered. 
The result of this successful expedition was the capture of 750 
prisoners, and 35 commissioned ofificers, with all their arms, accou- 
trements, ammunition, and sixteen wagons and teams. The skil- 
ful manner in which these generals achieved such success exhibits 
clearly the judgment, discipline, and good conduct of the brave 
troops of their command. Such signal examples of duty deserve 
the applause and gratitude of their comrades in arms and their 
country." 

* Official Records, vol. xxiii. part i. p. 181. t Ibid. p. 182. 

175 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

The people of the South, and the army, while detracting noth- * 
ing from the courage and capacity of General Van Dorn, whose | 
death a few weeks later was widely lamented, gave to the genius | 
of Forrest the chief credit of these brilliant results. Of the 
prisoners taken (about two thousand in all), eighteen himdred 
surrendered directly to Forrest. Major-General W. S. Rosecrans 
expresses also his appreciation of the Confederate cavalryman at | 
this period. On March 25, 1863, at 9.30 P.M., he wired General- i 
in-Chief H. W. Halleck: " Rebels appear to me just now engaged 
in giving me occupation. Regret to learn from Granger that three 
hundred more of his men were captured to-day at Brentwood, 
nine miles in his rear, by cavalry. I do not think it prudent to 
advance from this position until I am better informed." The 
affair at Brentwood came very near being the cause of a personal 
encounter between Generals Van Dorn and Forrest. Both were 
men of unquestionable courage and of high spirit, not only quick to 
resent a seeming indignity, but equally quick to make the amende i 
honorable when convinced of error. The major-general's quarter- f| 
master had complained that all of the arms and property captured L 
by Forrest had not been turned over to his department. ! 

Forrest explained that, as was his custom, he had directed the 
property to be turned over to the quartermaster; but he did not 
see why, since his men had made the captures, they did not have 
a right to take the best guns and equipment for themselves, ! 
and turn over to the quartermaster those they had discarded. 1 
He thought this proper and that his men were entitled to the 
privilege. Of course, General Van Dorn, who was a West-Pointer i 
and a disciplinarian, failed to agree with his subordinate. He was j 
evidently in bad humor on account of the great credit which had 
been given to Forrest by the Southern papers for the part he had i 
taken in the capture of Coburn's troops at Thompson's station. \ 
This conversation took place at Van Dorn's headquarters at • 
Spring Hill, and Major J. Minnick Williams, of Nashville, and of | 
General Van Dorn's staff, was the only witness present. 

Major Williams says that Van Dorn, after questioning Forrest 
in regard to the property captured at Brentwood, remarked to 
him : " I am informed that several articles published in the Chat- \ 
tanooga Rebel, in which the honors at Thompson's station and 
Brentwood were claimed for yourself, were written by one of your 

176 



HOT WORDS WITH VAN DORN 

staff." Forrest flew into a furious rage at this assertion, and re- 
plied in great anger to General Van Dorn : " I know nothing of 
the articles you refer to, and I demand from you your authority 
for this assertion. I shall hold him responsible and make him 
eat his words, or run my sabre through him ; and I say to you as 
well, that I will hold you personally responsible if you do not 
produce the author." General Van Dorn turned to Major Will- 
iams, saying: "Major, do you know the author of those pub- 
lications?" Major Williams replied: "I do not; and I think, 
general, that you have done General Forrest an injustice in the 
suspicion that the articles originated from his headquarters." Van 
Dorn replied quickly: "I do not assert, nor do I believe, that Gen- 
eral Forrest inspired those articles, or had any knowledge of them." 
Forrest accepted the explanation with quiet dignity and evident 
satisfaction, saying : " General Van Dorn and I have enough to do 
fighting the enemies of our country without fighting each other."* 
The two shook hands and parted, never to meet again. It is a 
coincidence worthy of remark that within a month from this inter- 
view Van Dorn's career was ended, a victim of private vengeance, 
while Forrest was desperately (at first thought mortally) wounded 
by a subordinate officer, whose transfer to another command, by 
order of his superior, he construed as a reflection upon his courage. 
From March 25th until April 9th General Forrest and his 
command were engaged on picket, scouting, and outpost du- 
ties between Spring Hill and Franklin. Major -General Van 
Dorn, with a view to a reconnaissance in force and a diver- 
sion in favor of Bragg's right wing in front of Tullahoma, moved 
early on the morning of April loth to attack Franklin, garri- 
i soned by a strong force under Major-General Gordon Granger. It 
would have been better for the Confederate general if he had made 
his assault earlier by twenty -four hours, for Granger received a 
strong accession to his army just in the nick of time to save 
him from disaster. General D. S. Stanley, with his brigade of cav- 
alry (1600 effectives), arrived near Franklin at 10 A.M. on the loth, 
and later in the day his troops came unexpectedly on the flank of 
Stames's brigade and Freeman's battery with very serious results 

* The author is indebted to Captain John W. Morton, of Nashville, for 
an account of this incident, which he received from Major Williams. 
M 177 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

to the Southerners. That the intention of Van Dorn was to draw 

troops from Rosecrans's left wing, and not to attempt the capture ] 

of Franklin (as claimed by Granger in his ofificial report), is evident, .! 

not only from the feeble nature of the assault, but from the fact that I, 

the Confederate leader had not maintained the secrecy as to his ' 

advance which usually characterized such movements by him. In i 
fact, so well was it known that he proposed to assail Granger at 

this time that General Rosecrans had on the 9th of April hurried '| 
Stanley with an excellent cavalry division over from Murfrees- 
borough to be on hand to assist him during Van Dorn's promised 
attack.* General Granger says : " For several days previous I had 

received information that the attack would be made by General | 
Van Dorn on the 9th." f 

At 9.30 P. M., after the Confederates had fallen back to their 

quarters at Spring Hill, Rosecrans despatched to Halleck: "The ; 

attack was repulsed so easily that I am waiting to know whether : 

it was more than a reconnaissance." l 

In this affair Van Dorn's troops consisted of two cavalry di- ' 
visions under W. H. Jackson and Forrest respectively, about 

thirty-one hundred in all, with Freeman's battery of six pieces, j 

Forrest, with Armstrong's brigade in front and Starnes's following ; 

at an interval of nearly two miles, marched by the Lewisburg pike, I 

while General Van Dorn rode with Jackson's division along the j 

turnpike leading from Columbia to Franklin. These two high- : 

ways gradually converge to enter this town from the south. On i 

the morning of the attack General Granger states that he had at i 

hand 5194 effective infantry; 2728 cavalry, eighteen field and two [ 

siege guns. There was also a fort crowning a knoll or rise of ' 

ground in the town, on the north bank of Harpeth River, with an j 

elevation of forty feet above the surrounding country. There : 

were two twenty-four-pounder siege-guns and two three-inch rifled- j 

guns in this stronghold. He says: " The fort commands most of j 

the approaches to Franklin north of the Harpeth, and all from \ 

the south, save that part of the plateau covered by houses in the | 

southwest part of the town." With all the evidence now avail- ' 

able, even with the memory of the rash and bloody attack on j 
Corinth in mind, it would not be just to accuse General Van 

* Official Records, vol. xxiii. part i. p. 221. f Ibid. p. 222. 

178 



FIGHTING GRANGER AT FRANKLIN 

Dorn of the supreme folly of trying to capture such a stronghold, 
protected by a garrison with superior equipment and more than 
double in numbers the cavalry with which he assailed it. And 
had not General Granger handled his troops on this occasion so 
awkwardly, he so far outnumbered the Confederates that he had 
it in his power to inflict upon them very serious damage. 

It was 10.30 A. M., on the loth, when the pickets on the Colum- 
bia pike were driven in and the Fortieth Ohio Infantry was 
attacked by Jackson's advance. About the same time Arm- 
strong's brigade of Forrest's division encountered the Federal 
infantry stationed in the outskirts of Franklin, where the Lewis- 
burg pike approaches. The attack was made with such lack of 
vigor that General Granger says he was convinced that the move- 
ment on his front was a feint, and that the garrison at Brent- 
wood was again to be the real object of the Confederates. He 
says: "I received a telegram from General Morgan, at Brent- 
wood, that his pickets were driven in. ... I sent all of my own 
cavalry, under Brigadier-General G. C. Smith, in great haste to 
the relief of that post." These troops disappeared down the 
Brentwood road, on what turned out to be a wild-goose chase, 
and for that day were lost to Granger and to usefulness. The 
Union commander adds, in ill-concealed disgust : " Afterwards I 
learned that General Morgan's pickets had been driven in by 
three or four negroes walking along the road, a half-hour after 
General Green Clay Smith's cavalry had gone, and too late for it 
to return and take part in the action." After a very creditable 
resistance, Jackson had driven the Fortieth Ohio Infantry into 
Franklin, forcing them into the houses and to the fort for pro- 
tection and better defence. Armstrong and Forrest were also 
now making such a show of assault at their end of the line that 
Granger determined upon a new plan of action. The appearance 
of two of Freeman's guns, which were in the advance with Arm- 
strong, and some shells they sent flying into the town, empha- 
sized the necessity for the Union general's change of plan. He 
sent word for all the guns in the fort to open on anything in 
sight, which they promptly did. About this time Armstrong's 
attack suddenly slackened, and for good reason. Something im- 
portant had transpired about two miles rearward of his position. 
The Federals had met with the only success achieved for the day, 
* 179 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST * 

i 

and this came about because General Stanley went contrary to 
the plan and orders of General Granger. Stanley, with his divi- \ 
sion of cavalry, had been posted four miles from Franklin, on the I 
Murfreesborough road, with orders to remain on the north side of 
the Harpeth River and watch the crossing at Hughes's Mill. \ 
Having foolishly lost one cavalry division by sending it where it ! 
was not needed, Granger now had to send two infantry regiments 
of Gilbert's division and two guns (he had eighteen in all) to the ] 
vicinity of Hughes's Mill to join Stanley, who with the reinforce- 
ments was at the proper moment to cross the Harpeth there 
and throw his troops in Forrest's rear with (as Granger hoped) I 
direful results to the enemy. He said later that if things had ! 
gone right he could have taken two or three thousand of Van 
Dorn's command. But Stanley was in one particular like Forrest — 
he had not the patience to keep still while anything of interest ; 
was transpiring within sight or sound. He convinced himself that 
the interests of the service required his presence wherever there 
was a chance for a fight. His gallantry on this same ground on I 
that memorable day in December, 1864, is worthy of record. 

Gilbert's infantry had not gone a mile on the second wild-goose j 
hunt of the day when Granger was shocked to learn from Stanley ' 
that " he had crossed the river at Hughes's ford, moved to the I 
Lewisburg pike, and had attacked the enemy in flank." The 
kaleidoscopic changes which had occurred in his command were : 
enough to puzzle even so good a soldier and fighter as General 
Gordon Granger, but it was too late now to make another change. 
Stanley had crossed the Rubicon, and nothing was left for Gil- 
bert's infantry but to rush forward as rapidly as possible and to 
endeavor to reach the ford before he might be driven back. "At 
the same time I hurried General Baird's division across the pon- 1 
toon-bridge, but it was too late — he (Stanley) was driven back ■ 
across the river before the reinforcements could reach it." ! 

As Forrest's division approached Franklin he took two of Free- I 
man's guns in advance with Armstrong's brigade, and it was from 
these guns that the shells were fired which Granger mentions in ; 
his report. Freeman's four remaining pieces, under his personal I 
command, came on with Starnes's brigade, which was more than j 
two miles in the rear of Armstrong. Evidently neither Starnes nor 1 
Freeman was deemed necessary to the reconnaissance. As they i 

180 ; 



FEDERALS SURPRISE STARNES 

approached Franklin, Biffle's regiment was moving in front, then, 
at a considerable interval, the four pieces of artillery, followed by 
the remainder of Starnes's brigade, strung out along the pike upon 
which they were marching. The cannonade in front gave Starnes 
notice that the fighting was away off, and this usually vigilant 
officer did not appreciate the necessity of throwing out flankers 
at that distance in the rear of the firing. Stanley, intending to 
strike Armstrong in the rear at Hughes's Mill, had already crossed 
his division and was moving rapidly towards the Lewisburg pike, 
along which Starnes in fancied security was then marching in 
column. Unexpectedly to General Stanley as well as to Colonel 
Starnes, they collided. At the mill, the road leading up to the 
Lewisburg pike forked. By the route nearest to Franklin it was 
one mile to the turnpike ; by the other it was one mile and a half. 
On the former road Stanley despatched one of his brigades, and 
on the latter another detachment with the Fourth Regular Cav- 
alry in advance. This latter column arrived within one hundred 
yards of the Lewisburg turnpike before its presence was known 
to the Confederates. Captain Freeman, seeing them in such close 
proximity and without adequate protection, instantly threw his 
four pieces into position ; but before he could fire a single shot 
two companies of these hardy riders swept down upon him, driv- 
ing off whatever cavalry was near, and capturing him with his 
guns and about thirty-six members of his battery. 

Starnes, who was in advance with Biffle's regiment, which had 
only a few minutes previous passed towards Franklin, hearing 
the tumult in his rear, faced his command about and hurried on 
to the scene of the disaster. As they arrived, the next regiment 
following Freeman's guns and marching from Spring Hill towards 
Franklin came up. Colonel Starnes lost no time in retrieving the 
error made in not guarding his flanks. In person he led a furious 
assault upon the Union troopers, and drove them in short order 
from the field, f^om which they retreated rapidly towards Hughes's 
Mill and across the Harpeth River. The battery was recaptured 
and carried safely back to Spring Hill, where the damage done by 
[ the Federals while it was in their hands was soon repaired. Forrest, 
j however, sustained one loss on this occasion which he then deem- 
ed irreparable and ever deeply deplored. As the prisoners were 
being hurried from the field to prevent recapture, it is asserted 

i8i 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

that Captain Freeman was shot dead by a member of the Fourth 
Regular Cavalry because he did not move to the rear as rapidly j 
as he was ordered. As an officer of the artillery he was not in fit i 
condition nor physically able to maintain a rapid pace on foot for 
the mile and a half which these troopers had to traverse to reach , 
the ford and cross the Harpeth. He soon became so exhausted | 
that he was compelled to slacken his gait, and fell dead from a j 
bullet in his brain. 

A survivor of this incident of Freeman's battery, Lieutenant ] 
Nat Baxter, has given the writer the following interesting ac- i 
count of this affair: "When we were within a few miles of I 
FrankHn, we were surprised by the Fourth Regular Cavalry. Not ; 
suspecting the proximity of any Federals nearer than Franklin, ' 
where General Forrest was then skirmishing with the enemy, we : 
were utterly unprepared for the sudden collision with this cav- j 
airy. Starnes was ahead of us and out of sight on the turnpike, | 
and about a half-mile in our rear another regiment of our cavalry ' 
was advancing, and the portion of our battery with us was strung j 
out along the pike. I remember I was riding about the centre of ' 
the battery, behind the second gun, with my left leg thrown over j 
the saddle in a careless manner. Captain Freeman was just in ; 
front, at the head of the column. On the right of the road, going ' 
in the direction of Franklin, was a woodland ; between it and the i 
turnpike there was no fence. On the left of the road there was a ' 
high new plank fence. Suddenly I noticed Captain Freeman ; 
straighten himself in his saddle, rein his horse up quickly as if j 
much excited, and heard him give a sharp, quick command, which ' 
was to throw the guns into action and load them at once. Look- < 
ing up, I saw a squadron of Federal cavalry charging right at us | 
from this woodland, not more than one hundred yards off, and ! 
then at a full gallop. I rushed to the gun, dismounted, turned my i 
horse loose, and took a hand to ram the charge down the piece. \ 
I succeeded in loading the gun, which would have been discharged 
but for a faulty friction-primer which failed to explode. Before 
we could adjust another primer the cavalry were among us, using j 
their sabres or six-shooters. I endeavored to escape on foot by ' 
leaping over the high board fence, but, being unarmed, before I , 
could gain the woods on the opposite side of the field across 
which I was running I was overtaken and compelled to surrender 

182 



DEATH OF CAPTAIN FREEMAN 

The captured men and officers were immediately sent to the rear 
on foot. We had not proceeded more than a quarter of a mile 
from the scene of the disaster before the Federal cavalry that had 
captured us came running back to where we were moving along 
in rapid retreat. I did not see Captain Freeman, as he had been 
taken prisoner a few minutes before I was captured. We were 
forced to run in front of the Federal troopers at the muzzles of 
their pistols, they shouting at us constantly that they would 
shoot us down if we did not make better time. I am convinced 
from their manner towards myself in this particular that they 
would have killed me instantly had I slackened my pace." 

Another officer of this battery,* who was present, has given me 
the following statement : " I commanded the second section of 
the battery, but escaped capture by being a short distance in the 
rear at the time of the attack. Captain Freeman had given me 
permission to look after my brother, whose horse had fallen with 
him, and who was reported badly injured. I was just returning 
and had reached the rear caisson of our battery when the Fed- 
erals rode among the men in charge of the advanced gun. As 
Dr. Skelton, assistant surgeon of the battery, and Captain Free- 
man, both of whom were captured, were being hurried from 
the field, the Federals ordered them to ' double quick ' or they 
would shoot them. Freeman replied that he could not go any 
faster, as he was thoroughly exhausted with the effort he had al- 
ready made and was then making. Both he and the surgeon were 
then shot, a bullet passing through the doctor's hand as he threw 
it up asking them not to shoot." 

After his exchange. Dr. Skelton said that the report that Free- 
man had offered resistance, or had feigned inability to run faster 
as ordered, was not true. He was with Freeman when he was 
killed, and Captain Freeman had told the Federal who shot him 
that he could not go any faster. He offered no resistance and 
made no effort to escape. 

General Forrest was overwhelmed with grief at the death of his 
gallant artilleryman. When he arrived on the field and joined in 
the assault which drove Stanley's troopers across the Harpeth 
River, Lieutenant Douglas was with him. As he came up to the 

* Lieutenant E. H. Douglas, of Franklin, Tennessee. 
183 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

spot where the body of Captain Freeman was discovered, For- 
rest, deeply agitated, dismounted and took Freeman's hand in his 
to see if he were really dead. With tears welling from his eyes, 
and in a voice trembling with emotion, he said, " Brave man ; 
none braver!" 

Some of Forrest's men never forgot or forgave the killing of 
Captain Freeman, and treasured to the extreme of retaliation a 
lasting and bitter resentment against this command. In speaking 
of the bravery of this officer, one who served side by side with 
him said : " His favorite pieces were his twelve-pounder howitzers, 
his preferred ammunition two-thirds canister, and his distance as 
close as his general would let him go."* 

The retreat of Stanley ended the fighting. At dark the Con- 
federates retired to Spring Hill and went into camp. General 
Stanley's division in this affair lost 6 killed, 19 wounded, and 17 
prisoners; Armstrong's brigade, i killed, 11 wounded, and 2 miss- 
ing ; Starnes's, 3 killed, 16 wounded, and 2 missing ; Forrest's es- 
cort company lost 4 wounded ; Freeman's battery, i killed, i 
wounded, and 29 prisoners. Total in Forrest's command, 70. Jack- 
son's division, as reported by Colonel F. G. Mitchell, of the Forti- 
eth Ohio, who fought in his front, lost 17 killed, 14 wounded, 
and 13 prisoners.! The Union forces on this part of the field ad- 
mit a loss of 3 killed, 4 wounded, and 10 missing.;}: If the Con- 
federate commander or General Jackson ever made an official re- 
port of this expedition it did not find its way into the records. 
Forrest reported his losses as above given. It is very probable 
that the death of General Van Dorn soon after this event will ex- 
plain why his official account does not appear. 

* Campaigns of General N. B. Forrest. 

t Official Records, vol. xxiii. part i. p. 229. { Ibid. p. 240. 



CHAPTER IX 

THE PURSUIT AND CAPTURE OF STREIGHT'S RAIDERS 

Streighfs Famous Raid - Pronounced by General Rosecrans "A Great Enterprise 
Fraught with Great Consequences "—Forrest's Relentless Pursuit— The Fight near 
Day's Gap— Night Battle on Sand Mountain— The Ambuscade-Emma Sanson 
an Alabaipa Lass of Sixteen, Rides under Fire with General Forrest— The " Lost 
Ford "—Desperate Resistance on the Part of Colonel Abel D. Streight and His 
Plucky Men — Death of Colonel Gilbert Hathaway — Forrest's Indomitable Will 
Holds His Devoted Soldiers to Their Work, and Forces the Surrender of the Fed- 
eral Commander after a Running Fight Lasting Three Days and Nights— The Fed- 
erals Twice as Numerous as the Confederates to Whom They Surrendered— Vote 
of Thanks to Brigadier-General Forrest and His Men from the Congress of the Con- 
federate States. 

MAJOR-GENERAL BRAXTON BRAGG, commanding 
the Confederate Army of Tennessee in December of 
1862, had tried the fortunes of war in the great and 
bloody battle of Murfreesborough, and, although he was not beat- 
en from the f^eld, the tide of battle did not turn in his favor, and 
he withdrew his infantry to the line of Tullahoma, two days' 
march southward from the battle-f^eld. Three months later, in 
1863, as the days began to lengthen, 

. . . "and the spring 
Came forth, her work of gladness to contrive," 

it became evident that Major-General W, S. Rosecrans was pre- 
paring either to fight or to manoeuvre Bragg south of the Ten- 
nessee River. Knowing what a natural stronghold Chattanooga 
was, he felt sure that the Confederate general would stop there 
and give him endless trouble, unless he could do something which 
would compel him to continue his retreat beyond that point and 
into Georgia. It occurred to his fertile mind that if he could se- 
i cure the destruction of the two important railroads leading from 
i Chattanooga— one to Atlanta and the other to Knoxville— about 
I ' 185 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

the time that he could force Bragg's army southward from Tulla- 
homa, the latter's chance of supplying his troops at Chattanooga, 
with these highways of commerce destroyed, would appear so 
slim that he would leave this place behind him and go to Dalton 
or Atlanta without a stop. General Rosecrans wanted Chattanooga 
very badly. Two desperate ventures were tried to destroy these 
invaluable railroads, and both came to grief. The story of the 
" Andrews raiders " will ever remain an attractive yet pathetic 
chapter in American history, and Streight's bold raid and For- 
rest's relentless pursuit, the story of which " reads like a ro- 
mance," * will interest the world as long as women " bring forth 
male children." 

Among the subordinates in the Army of the Cumberland who 
had seriously reflected upon this project, there was a man of great 
courage and activity, and, withal, not lacking in resources. He 
ventured to submit to General Thomas J. Wood a plan which 
this officer conveyed to Brigadier-General James A. Garfield, who 
was then chief of staff to Rosecrans, and later President of the 
United States. Garfield became enthused over Streight's prop- 
osition, conveyed it to General Rosecrans, and, after discussion, 
the following plan of operations was determined upon : 

A body of men, of well-attested pluck and endurance, were to 
be selected, armed, and equipped with a special view to the suc- 
cess of this undertaking. They were to be transported by steam- 
ers from Nashville down the Cumberland and Ohio and up the 
Tennessee to Eastport, Mississippi, near the Alabama inter-State 
line. This would bring the troops, at the beginning of their over- 
land journey, safe from all unnecessary exertion or fatigue until 
the crucial moment should come. 

From twenty to forty miles south of the Tennessee River, and 
running nearly east and west across the northern portion of the 
State of Alabama, is a mountainous belt of country sparsely in- 
habited, and at that time without railroad or telegraphic communi- 
cations. A good proportion of the inhabitants of this barren tract 
were Union sympathizers, and many of them had relatives in the 
Federal army. For the reason that these sympathizers lived 
along this line, and on account of its remoteness from the tele- 

* General Lord Wolseley. 
1 86 



STREIGHT'S RAID UNDER WAY 

graph, Colonel Streight had wisely selected this as his route for 
the movement into Georgia. As there were many rugged hills 
and mountains to cross, and as the roads were generally in a 
wretched condition, it was deemed a wise precaution to mount 
the troops for this expedition on mules, since these hardy animals 
are surer of foot in difficult going, and can stand greater hardships 
on less forage than horses. 

To distract attention from Streight's raid, and at the same time 
to fight off any pursuing column, a large body of infantry and 
cavalry was to precede the expedition, attack Tuscumbia on the 
Tennessee River in north Alabama, drive everything in the shape 
of a Confederate soldier up the valley towards Decatur, and there 
hold them engaged until the " flying column " got a running start. 

The hero of the hour was Colonel Abel D. Streight, of Indiana. 
It was he whose plan had been accepted, and he was to have the 
honor of leadership. On April 7th he received an order to re- 
pair to Nashville, and to fit out his command as speedily as pos- 
sible " for an expedition to the interior of Alabama and Georgia, 
for the purpose of destroying the railroads in that country." 

The command selected by Colonel Streight was his own, the 
Fifty-first Indiana regiment ; the Seventy-third Indiana, Colonel 
Gilbert Hathaway ; the Third Ohio, Colonel Orris A. Lawson ; 
the Eighteenth Illinois, Lieutenant-Colonel Andrew F. Rodgers ; 
and two companies of Alabama (Union) cavalry, under Captain 
D. D. Smith — about two thousand officers and men. 

On April 9th he notified Generals Rosecrans and Garfield : 
" We can start within three hours from the time of receiving 
orders."* This lively Hoosier was anxious for the foray, and did 
not propose to lose any time. In his correspondence with the 
Union headquarters, he desired to know " if it would be violating 
the rules of war should I see fit to dress any number of men — say 
two companies — after the promiscuous Southern style ?" The re- 
ply does not appear in the records, but as his troops went on the 
march wearing their " blue blouses," there can be no doubt Rose- 
crans said no to the suggestion. General Rosecrans had not for- 
gotten the unfortunate Andrews raiders, who had dressed them- 
selves after the " promiscuous Southern style," and, being in 

* Official Records, vol. xxiii. part i. p. 225. 
• 187 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

citizen's clothes when captured, had practically tied the rope 
around their own necks, and a number of them paid the penalty 
of their folly with their lives. 

On the afternoon of the loth of April the leader of this expe- 
dition received orders from General Garfield to embark at once 
on steamers and proceed to Palmyra, on the Cumberland River. 
At this point he was to land his troops and march across the 
country to Fort Henry, on the Tennessee. Streight reached 
Palmyra on the nth, disembarked, sent the fleet around to the 
Ohio and up the Tennessee to Fort Henry, where he arrived on 
the 15th, one day ahead of the boats. He brought with him 
every mule in all that country upon which he could lay his 
hands, for he had orders to strip the land of these useful animals 
as he went. On the 17th the expedition was again afloat, con- 
voyed by two gunboats and General EUet, with a brigade of ma- 
rines, and reached Eastport, Mississippi, on the 19th of April, 
where his command was finally disembarked. 

Due notice of his coming had been given by General Rose- 
crans: "Colonel Streight, with near two thousand picked men, 
will probably reach Eastport by Thursday. Dodge, with the ma- 
rine brigade and the gunboats, can occupy or whip the Tuscum- 
bia forces, and let my force go directly to its main object — the 
destruction of the railroads. This great enterprise, fraught with 
great consequences, is commended to Dodge's care, enjoining on 
him to despatch Streight by every means to his destination. 
Nothing should for a moment arrest his progress." * 

Colonel Streight had no sooner set foot on land than he has- 
tened to a conference with General Grenville M. Dodge, who with 
5500 infantry and cavalry had already arrived at Bear Creek, 
twelve miles from Eastport. This officer had encountered a 
small force of Confederate cavalry west of Bear Creek, at Glen- 
dale, but these had retired before his advance to the creek ; and 
on April 17th, without much difficulty, he succeeded in crossing 
this stream, and marched thirteen miles towards Tuscumbia. 
Colonel P. D. Roddey, with a small brigade of cavalry, attacked 
one of his columns here with such vigor that he threw it into 
confusion, captured two pieces of artillery, twenty-two artillerists, 

* Official Records, vol. xxiii. part ii. p. 232. 
i88 



STREIGHT'S MULES STAMPEDED 

and one company of mounted infantry ; and although Dodge re- 
took one of the g-ms, he was so troubled over the results of the 
day and the non-arrival of Streight's column that he fell back to 
Bear Creek to await his arrival and to send for more help. He 
telegraphed to Corinth for Fuller's brigade, 2000 strong, and an- 
other battery, all of which reached him in good time, increasing his 
force, exclusive of Streight's raiders, to 7500 men. At that time he 
was confronted only by a single brigade of cavalry under Roddey. 

At Eastport the woes which an unkind fate had in store for the 
gallant Hoosier raider and his band began to be in evidence. While 
he was absent, in conference with General Dodge until midnight, 
the great cargo of mules had been put ashore, and with clarion 
tones these noisy animals were celebrating their deliverance from 
their natural dread of a watery grave. Some irresponsible West- 
erner, who had nothing to do but to wear a blue uniform, carry a 
musket, and fight, suggested that since this species of animal did 
not appear upon the roster of the original ark, they had determined 
on this occasion to celebrate loud enough to make up for all past 
slights. The braying of mules was not an unusual sound to Rod- 
dey's cavalry, who were hovering about the Federal encampment, 
with the true instinct of Confederate cavalrymen seeking what 
they might devour. Many of them in this busy time of war were 
glad enough to get even a mule to ride, and it is said of the men 
who took General Dodge's cannon only a few days before that 
they were experts in selecting those which were fast. 

During the night, after the fashion of Comanches, they crept 
into Colonel Streight's corral, and with hoots and yells and the 
firing of guns and pistols, stampeded this army of mules. This 
officer says : " Daylight next morning revealed to me the fact that 
nearly four hundred of our best animals were gone. All of that 
day and part of the next were spent in scouring the country to 
recover them, but only about two hundred of the lost number 
were recovered. The remainder fell into the hands of the enemy. 
The loss of these animals was a heavy blow to my command, for 
besides detaining us nearly two days at Eastport, and running 
down our stock in searching the country to recover them, it caused 
still further delay at Tuscumbia to supply their places." * 

* Colonel Streight's official report. 
• 189 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

Colonel Roddey and his troopers were doing very effective work. 
They never did better service than this, and when the gallant 
fight they made under brave Colonel W. A. Johnson at Brice's 
Cross -Roads is recalled, no greater compliment could be paid 
them. The delay thus caused in the execution of this bold con- 
ception of the Federal commander and his trusted subordinate 
was fatal to its success. It gave General Bragg time to hear of 
it and to select for its defeat the man of all men capable of its 
accomplishment. 

Colonel Streight with his caravan filed out of Eastport on the 
afternoon of April 21, 1863, and brought up the rear of Dodge's 
troops, which were continually skirmishing with the enemy as 
they advanced as far as Tuscumbia. So thoroughly was Roddey 
doing his work that it took the Union forces (four times his num- 
ber) until 5 P.M. on the 24th of April to reach Tuscumbia. At 
this place General Dodge, according to Streight, supplied him 
with two hundred mules and six wagons to haul his ammunition 
and rations; but General Dodge ofificially reports: " I took horses 
and mules from my teams and mounted infantry and furnished 
him some six hundred head. I also turned over ten thousand ra- 
tions hard bread." The troops were now carefully inspected by 
the surgeon of the command, and all men not fit for the arduous 
duties to be undertaken were sent to the rear. The colonel says : 
"This reduced my command to fifteen hundred men." 

On the 25th, Colonel Streight received a piece of news which 
gave him great concern : " General Dodge informed me there 
was no doubt but Forrest had crossed the Tennessee River and 
was in the vicinity of Town Creek !" Dodge's information was 
not altogether correct. Forrest was coming like a whirlwind, by 
night-and-day marches, and was not far away; but as yet the 
lion was not in Streight's path, and the way was open. If ever 
delay was dangerous, the leader of this expedition was now in- 
curring it. Properly employed, the 25th and 26th of April were 
worth a world to Colonel Abel D. Streight. 

At Spring Hill, on April 23d, a message arrived from General 
Braxton Bragg, directing Forrest to make a forced march with 
his old brigade to Decatur, Alabama, and, uniting there with the 
brigade of Colonel Roddey, to take charge of all the Confederate 
troops and check the Federal advance. On receipt of this or- 

190 



EFFORTS TO STOP THE ADVANCE OF DODGE 

der, Colonel Edmondson's Eleventh Tennessee was hurried off 
with directions to reach Bainbridge on the Tennessee River as 
soon as possible, cross there, and effect a junction with Roddey. 
Following with the Fourth, Ninth, and Tenth Tennessee regi- 
ments and Morton's battery, Forrest crossed the Tennessee River 
at Brown's Ferry, near Courtland, Alabama, on the 26th, and was 
soon in position to dispute the farther advance of General Dodge. 
Just before crossing this formidable stream he had directed Colo- 
nel Dibrell to take his Eighth Tennessee regiment and one gun, 
march along the northern bank of the river in the direction of 
Florence, and to use his artillery at every opportunity in order 
to create as much of a diversion in the Union rear as was possible. 

Help had come none too soon for Roddey's brigade, which had 
struggled manfully with the overwhelming force under the Union 
leader. General Dodge had pushed out with his legions, and on 
Monday, April 27th, had driven the Confederates across Town 
Creek, when he ascertained " that the enemy were in force under 
Forrest on the opposite bank." 

On the 28th, although " the resistance of the enemy was very 
strong, and their sharp-shooters very annoying," the Union com- 
mander succeeded in crossing the creek, the Confederates retiring 
towards Courtland. Notwithstanding his advantage, Dodge again 
withdrew to Town Creek that night and there encamped. 

It was here, about dark on the evening of the 28th of April, 
when the fighting had ceased and the Union forces were going into 
camp on Town Creek, that a well-known citizen of Tuscumbia, Mr. 
James Moon, after a hurried ride around and through various Fed- 
eral detachments, reached General Forrest with the startling intelli- 
gence that a very considerable body of mounted Union troops, es- 
timated at about two thousand, had passed through Mount Hope 
in the direction of Moulton, and were probably now at the latter 
place. In his original plan, General Rosecrans had intended that 
Dodge should advance no farther than Tuscumbia in aid of 
Streight, but when at this point he informed the leader of the 
raiders that Forrest was at Town Creek, Streight insisted that 
Dodge should attack the latter and drive him at least as far as 
Courtland, or even to Decatur, and thus hold Forrest off. Streight 
says, moreover : " It was understood that in the event Forrest 
took after me in the direction of Moulton, Dodge and his cavalry 

191 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

were to follow Forrest." Swinging loose from all support, and 
taking advantage of the darkness of night to conceal his depart- 
ure, Streight's "lightning brigade" marched out of Tuscumbia 
in the direction of Mount Hope on the 26th of April. Although 
Mount Hope was the first point aimed for, it must have been 
that evil forebodings filled the heart of the raider chief as he 
stumbled and groped his way along the almost impassable roads 
of northern Alabama. He says : " It was raining very hard, and 
the mud and darkness of the night made our progress very slow." 
Sergeant H. Briedenthal, of Company A, Third Ohio Infantry, 
in his journal says : " We were aroused from our refreshing slum- 
bers in camp at Tuscumbia at eleven o'clock at night, and pre- 
pared our meals and mules. We were in the saddle at i A.M., 
and started on the Russellsville road, but made only five miles by 
daylight, on account of the badness of the roads, and the depth of 
the streams swollen by the recent rains. We reached Russellsville 
at 10 A.M., a distance of eighteen miles northwest of Tuscumbia. 
Halted long enough to feed, and at 11 A.M. were in our saddles, 
and took a westerly direction. At sunset reached Mount Hope, 
a small village thirty-six miles from Tuscumbia, where we went 
into camp somewhat fatigued and hungry." * 

On the night of the 27th, at Mount Hope, Colonel Streight 
received the cheering news from Dodge that he had Forrest on 
the run, that he had crossed east of Town Creek, had driven 
the Confederates away, and that he must now push on. Colonel 
Streight did push on through mud and slush and rain, and late 
on the afternoon of the 28th of April woke up the sleepy village 
of Moulton with the largest procession of Union troopers that 
secluded spot had yet entertained. Here he fed and rested his 
weary cavalcade until i A.M. (29th), when, saddling up, he moved 
eastward, with Blountsville as his next objective. 

Sergeant Briedenthal says: " After a ride of twelve miles over 
the most miserable roads, we arrived at dark in Moulton, the 
capital of Lawrence County, and bivouacked about 9 P.M. At 
one o'clock on the morning of the 29th we were mounted and off 
in a westerly (easterly) direction." 

As Streight was fiUng out of Moulton at one o'clock on the 

* Companion Volume, Rebellion Record, 1861-64, p. 338. 
192 



FORREST'S MEASURES TO DEFEAT DODGE 

morning of the 29th of April, sixteen miles away to the north 
another body of mounted men was leaving the suburbs of Court- 
land and heading after them. The plucky raider, relying upon 
the understanding with Dodge, little dreamed at this midnight 
hour that the man of all men he most dreaded, at the head of a 
determined lot of fighters, made veterans under his iron hand and 
absolutely devoted to his service, had boldly cut loose from in 
front of Dodge, and with rapid stride was bearing down upon him. 

When Forrest, at dark on the 28th of April, received the infor- 
mation as to the presence of so large a body of mounted troops 
so far detached from their main column, his quick perception took 
in the situation at a glance. Calling his staff at once, he gave 
explicit directions as to the disposition of the troops whose duty 
it would be to confront Dodge and hold him where he was or re- 
tard any pursuit. He sent a courier to Dibrell to attack at once 
Dodge's outposts near Florence ; to use his artillery freely, and 
create the impression that a considerable force was threatening 
the rear of the Union commander. This he did with the hope 
that it would draw him back to Tuscumbia. In order to prevent 
any possibility of a return of the raiders to unite with General 
Dodge's column, or prevent any reinforcements to them from 
this source, he directed Colonel Roddey to take his Alabama 
regiment, the Eleventh Tennessee regiment (Edmondson's), and 
Julian's battalion, to interpose these troops between Dodge and 
Streight, and then follow on directly after the raiders. Selecting 
Starnes's and Biffle's regiments, two pieces of John W. Morton's 
battery, and Ferrell's six pieces (heretofore with Roddey), these 
were speedily prepared for the pursuit. Forrest did not leave the 
details of preparation to any subordinate, however faithful and re- 
liable. He selected the best horses and harness, and double- 
teamed his artillery and caissons. He even stood by to see the 
ammunition carefully distributed, with directions to the captains 
of companies to say to each man that " no matter what else got 
wet he must keep his cartridge-box dry." He saw to it that the 
farriers were busy shoeing the horses and tightening the shoes 
which were loose. 

Three days' rations were cooked, and shelled corn issued for 
two days' forage. To the successful commander, close personal 
attention to these details was essential, and he knew it. At the 
N « 193 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

bottom of his remarkable and almost unbroken series of brilliant 
achievements, may not this patient attention to the smallest de- 
tail explain in part the wonderful measure of his success? 

By one o'clock on the morning of the 29th of April all was ready, 
and as the cavalcade rode out of the town of Courtland, in the 
cold drizzling rain which was falling and making the muddy roads 
still more difificult, there began a race and running fight between 
two bodies of cavalry which, in the brilliant tactics of the retreat 
and stubbornness in defence on one side, and the desperate bra- 
very of the attack and relentlessness in pursuit upon the other, 
has no analogue in military history. Brave men all, and worthy 
sons of a common country : never again may bitterness or hatred 
prevail, and never again in our glorious land may the implements 
of war be trained by brother against brother ! 

Steadily throughout that night, and well into the daylight of 
the 29th, the Confederate leader rode without a halt. The mud 
was deep and the night so dark that even the animals could 
scarcely find their way. At eight o'clock, an hour for feeding and 
resting the horses, and then through to Moulton on the forenoon 
of this day. 

In the mean time, Colonel Streight had not been idle. From 
Moulton he had struck a steady gait and kept it up, and had 
placed seventeen miles to his credit on the 29th, reaching at dark 
a defile or gorge which leads to the summit of Sand Mountain 
and is known as Day's Gap. In addition to this good march over 
rough and muddy roads on a direct line, his men had swept the 
country for several miles on each side of the highway, taking all 
the horses and mules, not only to replace any which might break 
down, but to prevent them from being used by the enemy, should 
pursuit be made. He says : " We destroyed during the day a 
large number of wagons laden with provisions. We were now in 
the midst of devoted Union people. I could learn nothing of the 
enemy." And here, at the foot of Sand Mountain, he rested for 
the night, still unconscious of the fact that the " Wizard of the 
Saddle " was on his trail. 

While the Union troops were sleeping, Forrest's hardy riders 
were reeling off mile after mile of their heavy task. At Moulton 
they had stolen another hour of rest, with the saddles off to cool 
the horses' backs while feeding the hungry animals. Just as the 

194 



FORREST'S VALIANT FIGHTERS 

bugle sounded to " saddle up," the glorious sunlight broke through 
a rift in the western sky, and as their idolized chieftain mounted 
his horse and gave that ever-famous command, "Move up, men," 
twelve hundred hats, shabby though they were, were lifted, and the 
rebel yell that split the air might well have shaken the sparkling 
pendants of rain from the tender green leaves of that April after- 
noon. The moment was auspicious. The wild enthusiasm of his 
men was to him the harbinger of success. Never was mortal man 
more in his element than Nathan Bedford Forrest at this hour. 
He knew exactly with what force of the enemy he had to con- 
tend. He knew they were picked men, armed cap-a-pie, well led, 
and would fight with desperation ; but he knew just as well that 
at his heels, ready to go wherever he showed the way, were men 
than whom no braver or truer ever straddled a horse ; men trained 
under his own eye and by his skilled hand. Horses and men alike 
were seasoned by a long and successful campaign, which had 
twice received proud recognition in "general orders" from the 
commander-in-chief of the army and a vote of thanks from the 
Congress of the Confederate States. Of him and these men Lord 
Wolseley says : " They were reckless men, who looked to him as 
their master, their leader, and over whom he had obtained the 
most complete control. He possessed that rare tact — unlearnable 
from books — which enabled him not only effectively to control 
these fiery, turbulent spirits, but to attach them to him personally 
'with hooks of steel.' In him they recognized not only the dar- 
ing, able, and successful leader, but also the commanding officer 
who would not hesitate to punish with severity when he deemed 
punishment necessary. He thoroughly understood the nature 
and disposition of those with whom he had to deal, their strong 
and their weak points, what they could and could not accomplish. 
He never ventured to hamper their freedom of action by any sort 
of stiff, barrack-yard drill, or to embarrass it by any preconceived 
notions of what a soldier should look like. They were essentially 
irregulars by nature, and he never attempted to rob them of that 
character. They possessed as an inheritance all the best and 
most valuable fighting qualities of the irregulars, accustomed as 
they were from boyhood to horses and the use of arms, and 
brought up with all the devil-may-care, lawless notions of the 
frontiersman. But the most volcanic spirit among them felt he 

195 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

must bow before the superior iron will of the determined man 
who led them. There was a something about the dark-gray eye 
of Forrest which warned his subordinates he was not to be trifled 
with and would stand no nonsense from either friend or foe. He 
was essentially a practical man of action, with a dauntless, fiery 
soul, and a heart that knew no fear." 

A little after midnight, Forrest, at the head of the column, had 
arrived within four miles of Day's Gap. Here he learned that the 
Union troops were encamped at the foot of the mountain, in the 
mouth of this defile. Now assured that he had his adversary in 
striking distance, the men were halted and told to feed and rest 
until near daylight. Rolled up in their blankets and oil-cloths, the 
road-side was soon lined with the weary troopers so soundly sleep- 
ing that dreams of neither war nor peace disturbed them. It took 
several hours for the column to close up. The trying pace had told 
on many of the horses, and it was near daylight when the last of the 
stragglers caught up. They in turn were allowed a short respite. 

Not all the Confederates, however, were allowed to rest. The 
general thought his brother, Captain William Forrest, and his 
famous " Forty Scouts " did not need sleep. He ordered him " to 
keep right on down the road and get up close to the enemy and see 
what they are doing." Captain Bill moved on, and in the moon- 
light succeeded in getting between an unsuspecting rear vidette 
of the Federals and their main column, and capturing them. He 
then advanced to within sight of the camp-fires of Streight's com- 
mand, and without disturbing their slumbers concluded to give 
his own men a rest. It is said that man proposes, but that the 
disposition is elsewhere. In any event, the famous scouts were 
not to sleep for the short part of the night now at their disposal. 
One of this company relates that when they were here, close to the 
Union camp, just before daylight, there broke out the most awful 
noise to which mortal man had ever been called upon to listen. 
In one mighty effort nearly two thousand mules, braying in far- 
reaching and penetrating chorus, set the echoes in vibration among 
the Alabama mountains. So loud and continuous was this un- 
usual noise that Forrest's scouts discarded all idea of sleep, and 
laughed at the drollery of their serenade.* 

* Manuscript of Mr. W. G. Wilkins, in possession of the author. 

196 



TRYING TO DISLODGE STREIGHT 

Over in Streight's camp, the salute to the morning which had 
so disturbed the Confederate scouts was the breakfast-call of the 
hungry drove. Colonel Streight had determined to be up and 
away before daylight, and in good time his men were bestirring 
themselves to feed the animals. At the head of his column, with 
wagons near the front, and before the day was yet breaking, on 
April 30th, the Federal commander moved slowly up the narrow, 
winding, and rocky road by which Sand Mountain is here as- 
cended. In and out as the way runs, it is more than a mile to the 
summit. From bowlders and knobs and trees the gap should be 
easily held from direct assault, by one against four. It took an 
hour to make the ascent, and was sunrise when the great undulat- 
ing plateau was reached. The caravan almost filled the snake-like 
highway from top to bottom, and when the advance was on the 
crest the rear-guard of the Union troopers and some loiterers were 
still lounging about the camp-fires, when suddenly, and from a dis- 
tance of not over five hundred yards, a cannon boomed on the 
morning air, and a whizzing shell exploded among the startled 
stragglers. These and the rear - guard did not stand upon the 
order of their going, but went. In wild disorder the camp-fires 
and kettles were abandoned as they chased after the column of 
raiders climbing up the mountain, with Captain William Forrest 
and his company in swift pursuit. 

Colonel Streight says : " We moved before daylight. I had not 
proceeded more than two miles at the head of the column before 
I was informed that the rear-guard had been attacked, and at that 
moment I heard the boom of artillery." General Forrest had also 
moved by daylight, and was in the immediate vicinity of the Union 
rear before his presence was suspected. Seeing the difflculty of 
driving Streight from so formidable a position by direct assault, 
he ordered Bififle's and Starnes's regiments, under McLemore, to 
hasten by a neighboring pass and take the enemy in flank and 
rear. The wily Hoosier, however, did not wait for this. His two 
Alabama companies from this immediate section knew the passes 
and the country, and in this the Confederates had no advantage. 
They had told him of the other routes. " I soon learned that 
the enemy had moved through the gap, and were endeavoring to 
form a junction in my advance." He, therefore, hurried on across 
the mountain, his rear -guard followed steadily by Captain Bill 

197 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

Forrest's men and the advance of Edmondson's and Roddey's 
regiments and Julian's battalion. About two miles from the top 
or western crest of Sand Mountain, Colonel Streight saw he had 
to make a stand, and standing or running, by night or by day, and 
without regard to odds, Forrest was determined to fight him 
whenever he saw him. His order was : " Shoot at everything 
blue, and keep up the scare." The country through which 
Streight was now passing " was of open sand - ridges, very thinly 
wooded, and afforded fine defensive positions." * It was well 
named Sand Mountain, the top-soil or covering being fine sand or 
sandstone, in various grades of pulverization. It is the lower or 
southwestern termination of the great Appalachian range. The 
elevation is about five hundred feet above the valleys which 
bound it, and the plateau varies in width from twelve to twenty 
miles. On top, the land is slightly undulating, with numerous 
small streams or creeks worn deeply into the surface of the earth, 
like small canyons or deep ravines, with steep banks, heavily 
fringed with a thick growth of small trees and dense mountain- 
laurel. Away from these streams there is a fairly rich growth of 
various species of oak, pine, and hickory trees. For defensive 
warfare, as Colonel Streight reports, it is admirably adapted, and 
here, about two miles from the crest of the mountain, he laid the 
first ambuscade. His line of battle was formed " along the crest 
of a ridge circling to the rear. Our right rested on a precipitous 
ravine, and the left was protected by a marshy run that was easily 
held against the enemy." Skirmishers extended well beyond 
either flank to guard against surprise. The mules were to the 
rear and out of range. In the centre of his line and concealed 
by brush were two twelve-pounder howitzers. He had scarcely 
got everything in shape, guns loaded, and men all lying down, 
when his rear -guard of the Alabama companies came scurrying 
down the road, with Bill Forrest leading his men right on their 
heels. 

As soon as Streight's men passed through the gap in the line 
left open for them, the Federals from either side of the road 
poured a furious and effective volley into the Confederate scouts. 
A Mini6 ball crushed the brave captain's thigh-bone, and several 

* Colonel Streight's report. 
ig8 



FORREST'S REPULSE AT DAY'S GAP 

of his men were killed or wounded by this deadly fusillade before 
they could check their horses and run out of range. General 
Forrest now rode to the front to inspect the Federal position. 
He had at hand only a portion of Edmondson's and Roddey's 
regiments, Julian's battalion, his escort company, and the rem- 
nants of Captain Forrest's company. In the hard ride since leav- 
ing Courtland a number of the horses had not been able to keep 
up with the advance. Those that came in late to the bivouac, 
four miles west of Day's Gap, had been left to rest and care for their 
animals, and were not yet on the ground. There were not one 
thousand Confederates all told on the top of Sand Mountain at 
this hour. Dismounting Edmondson's men, Forrest threw them 
into line, while Roddey and Julian, mounted, were deployed to 
the right, and to the left his escort and the scouts were placed. 
The two guns of Morton's battery, having just arrived, were brought 
up and opened upon the Union line. Edmondson's trained vet- 
erans advanced steadily, and when they had reached a point with- 
in about a hundred yards of the Federal troops, the two mounted 
companies on the left rode into the skirmishers on this flank. At 
this moment Roddey's and Julian's men recklessly urged their 
horses well in front of the alignment of Edmondson's men, and 
by their advanced and exposed position brought on themselves 
a murderous volley from the greater portion of the Federal line. 
A number of men and horses were killed or wounded, and, being 
thrown into confusion, the able Federal commander seized the mo- 
ment to order a charge which, gallantly made, swept the mounted 
Confederates from the field. As Edmondson was now overlapped 
and enfiladed, and in danger of having the right files of his regi- 
ment captured, he and the escort and Captain Forrest's scouts 
also fell back, yet steadily and without confusion. Reaching the 
two guns, they made an effort to take these away, but as several of 
the horses, having been shot, had become entangled in the gearing, 
the pieces with their caissons could not be extricated in time, and 
fell into the hands of the advancing Federals. 

Whether justly or unjustly. General Forrest never forgave the 
lieutenant in charge of the artillery for the loss of these guns in 
this encounter at Day's Gap, In the reorganization of his troops 
a few weeks later he requested that the artillerist be transferred to 
another command, and although he preferred no charges against 

199 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

the young officer, the latter, resenting what he interpreted as a re- 
flection upon his courage, in an unfortunate moment attempted to 
kill his commander. 

To those who have been with General Forrest when his troops 
suffered even a temporary repulse, and know how furious he be- 
came, it is not difficult to depict the " state of mind " he was now 
in at the loss of his two pet guns. He was praying for Starnes 
and Biffle to come up ; but, alas, they were off on the flank move- 
ment and could not be had. He rode in among the men with his 
sabre drawn and accompanied his deft employment of this weapon 
with a series of remarks well calculated to increase the temper- 
ature of the mountain atmosphere. He told every man to get 
down and hitch his horse to a sapling. There would be no horse- 
holders in this fight ; men were too scarce. Those guns had to 
be retaken if every man died in the attempt, and if they did not 
succeed they would never need their horses again. One of For- 
rest's staff (Captain Henry Pointer), when at last the men were 
lined up for the charge and the general was riding along to tell ev- 
ery trooper just what he expected of him, rode up to a fellow-mem- 
ber of the military family (Major Anderson), drew a modest little 
bundle of sliced ham and bread from an inside pocket, and, offer- 
ing half of it to him, remarked : " Major, we had better eat this 
now, I reckon, for from the way the ' old man ' is preparing to get 
his guns back it might spoil before we get another chance at it." 
The order to " move up " was soon given, and the line of dismount- 
ed troopers in desperate mood moved steadily forward. Nearing 
the strong position from which they had been repulsed, the enemy 
again opened fire upon them, but without artillery and in feeble, 
scattering shots. The charge was now ordered, and the men went 
forward only to see the rear-guard of the Union column mount 
their mules and scamper away in the direction of Blountsville. 
This was about ii A.M., on the 30th of April. Streight was satis- 
fied with the first repulse and the capture of the guns, and as soon 
as the Confederates gave way he had hastily departed, taking the 
captured pieces with him. He admits in this skirmish a loss of about 
thirty killed and wounded. Among the mortally wounded was Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Sheets, of the Fifty-first Indiana. Forrest claimed 
about fifty or seventy-five of their killed and wounded were found 
on the field. The Confederates should naturally have suffered more 

200 




^i i'f^-mi^i.-.^: 



COLONEL STREIGHT CAPTUKING GENERAL FORRESX's GUNS 



PURSUING STREIGHTS FORCES 

severely, as they were the assailants and received the fire of the 
Federals, who were better protected. Of the Confederate officers. 
Captain William Forrest, brother of the general, was desperately 
wounded. Fortunately his injury did not prove fatal or perma- 
nently unfit him for service. 

By the time the Confederate troopers could get back to their 
horses and resume the pursuit, their vigilant and energetic adver- 
sary had a start of nearly an hour. The running fight had opened. 
The tactics of both leaders were now in evidence. With Colonel 
Streight it was to move with celerity, until his rear was too hard 
pressed, and then, whenever a suitable position offered, to ambus- 
cade his adversary, and thus discourage direct assault. Forrest 
would thus be compelled to attempt to ride around him and head 
him off". The Confederate general summed up his tactics in his 
usual pointed phraseology. He said to his officers and men : 
" Whenever you see anything blue, shoot at it, and do all you 
can to keep up the scare." The raiders were now on the run, and 
he had no idea of letting them rest until he had worried them 
into a surrender. His chief anxiety was that Streight might sheer 
off on some by-road towards the Tennessee River, take the back 
track, and break for safety by reuniting with Dodge. He did not 
think Dodge's cavalry was near him, and yet he wanted to make 
his work sure. With great rapidity he now pressed on after the 
flying column. Six miles eastward from the battle-ground of the 
morning a by-road came in, and along this he saw the Fourth and 
Ninth Tennessee regiments riding swiftly after their detour around 
Day's Gap. The distance had, however, been too great to enable 
them to accomplish the object of this movement. The Federals 
had passed before they could strike the road. The arrival of 
these veteran regiments gave great satisfaction to the Confederate 
leader. He now ordered Colonel Roddey with his regiment and 
Julian's battalion to retrace their steps and place themselves in 
observation in front of General Dodge. To preclude the possi- 
bility of escape towards Guntersville, on the Tennessee, Edmond- 
son's regiment, accompanied by Major Charles W. Anderson, of 
the staff, was despatched towards Somerville and Brooksville, in a 
general direction parallel with the route upon which Streight was 
moving, and between him and the river. 

Under his immediate leadership, in the direct pursuit of Streight, 

20I 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

he retained his escort, Captain Forrest's scouts, and the regiments 
of Biffle and Starnes, the latter commanded by McLemore, and 
with these moved rapidly on. It was not long before they began 
to overhaul the swift-marching raiders. The mule-tracks in the 
road grew fresher and fresher at every stride of the pursuers, and 
soon the moist and dark-colored sand in the deepest hollow of 
the hoof-prints told that they had just been made. 

Nine miles from Day's Gap the blue coats of the Federal rear- 
guard came in sight, and the videttes of the Fourth Tennessee 
were soon crowding them up on the moving column. For a mile 
the skirmishing went on, increasing in briskness, and gradually de- 
manding more and more attention from the Federal colonel. He 
says : ** Finally the enemy pressed upon our rear so closely that I 
was compelled to prepare for battle. I selected a strong position 
on a ridge called Hog Mountain. The whole force soon became 
engaged about one hour before dark. The enemy strove first to 
carry our right, then charged the left, but with the help of the two 
pieces captured in the morning and the two mountain howitzers 
we were able to repulse them." This obstinate and plucky en- 
counter did not cease until ten o'clock at night, when Streight re- 
treated. Forrest in person led his men again and again in the as- 
sault, with seeming desperation. The Federals stood their ground 
long and manfully, and much of the fighting was at close range 
and at times hand to hand, with no light by which to distinguish 
friend from foe, except the flash of pistol and carbine and the 
artillery, which the Federals alone had in the action. Ever in the 
thickest of the fray, the Confederate commander had one horse 
killed and two others wounded under him in this bloody encoun- 
ter ; nor did Streight's picked veterans yield until Biffle, with a 
strong detachment and the daring escort company, had under 
cover of darkness made a flank movement and bore down upon 
the mule -holders in the Union rear. He then quickly mount- 
ed and retreated, leaving his dead and wounded to the Confeder- 
ates. In the hurry of his retreat he was unable to carry off the 
two guns he had captured that day, and left them again in the 
hands of the Southerners, The Union leader says : " The ammu- 
nition we had captured with the guns was exhausted, and being 
very short of horses, I ordered the guns spiked and the carriages 
destroyed." 

202 



<l 



STREIGHT'S TROOPS IN AMBUSH 

The Hoosier colonel had scarcely started again before he had to 
turn and fight the persistent Tennesseeans who, with the ferocity 
of blood-hounds, were at his heels. The extreme peril of his situ- 
ation now began to dawn upon him. He realized that the only 
safety lay in the integrity of this end of the column. Selecting 
Colonel Hathaway 's Seventy - third Indiana regiment, to it was 
given this important duty, and, as Colonel Streight says: "I re- 
mained in the rear in person. We had scarcely got under way 
when I received information of the enemy's advance." This in- 
formation came from the cracking carbines of Biffle's picked lOO, 
who were now Forrest's advance-guard. They came on so bold- 
ly and became so noisy and insistent that Colonel Streight con- 
cluded to give them another check. It was now late in the night ; 
the clouds had disappeared and the moon was shining brightly. 
The position for the ambuscade was well selected. On each side 
of the road along this barren region was a dense thicket of young 
pines which had sprung up in the track of a hurricane which years 
ago had mowed a wide swath through the primitive forest of 
oaks. Here he quickly dismounted Hathaway's men, hurried the 
mules some distance up the road, and concealed his troops within 
short gunshot range of the highway by having them lie down in 
the dark shadows of the saplings. As the Confederate advance 
vidette came on at a stiff pace and approached the ambuscade, he 
was made to suspect the nearness of the enemy by the conduct of 
his horse, which, with a keener sense of sight and smell than his 
rider, stopped suddenly in the roadway. Retracing his steps until 
other troopers of the advance - guard came up, he informed the 
lieutenant in command of the suspected proximity of the Fed- 
erals. General Forrest was soon notified of the situation, and 
called for volunteers to draw the enemy's fire. From these, three 
were selected and told to ride forward, observe closely, and retreat 
as soon as they recognized the presence of the enemy or received 
their fire. Moving at a cautious gait, these daring riders became 
aware of the proximity of Hathaway's men as these were rising 
from the prone position to deliver their fire. Wheeling quickly 
about and throwing their bodies well down upon the horses' sides 
farthest from the enemy, the trained scouts saved themselves from 
the death-trap so skilfully laid. One of these. Private Granville 
Pillow, of Grove's company, Biffle's regiment, quickly made hi? 

203 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

way to the rear and guided General Forrest near the position of 
the ambuscaders. 

Ordering one gun of Ferrell's battery, under Lieutenant Jones, 
to be double-shotted with canister, this was noiselessly shoved by 
hand along the soft, sandy road until, as indicated by the scout, 
they were within two hundred yards of the thicket from which 
the Union troopers had fired. It was a novel experience to the 
artillerist, but carefully aiming his piece by the moonlight, he 
pulled the lanyard, and the charge went crashing through the 
pines. The Indianians responded with a return salute of small- 
arms. The Confederates brought up a second piece near enough, 
and several shells were then fired along the road.* The raiders 
not expecting this turn in affairs, sought their mules and resumed 
their flight. Colonel Streight says: " We were not again dis- 
turbed until we had marched several miles, when they attacked 
our rear -guard vigorously. I again succeeded in ambuscading 
them, and we continued our march, and reached Blountsville by 
ten o'clock in the morning." This last ambuscade was between 
2 and 3 A.M. on May ist, and was practically a repetition of the 
other. From Day's Gap to Blountsville Colonel Streight had 
not had a minute's rest or peace, and in making this distance of 
forty-three miles he had consumed twenty-eight hours. Forrest 
now had his antagonist so far from his base at Tuscumbia that 
he was assured he could not escape in that direction. Should he 
at Blountsville turn north towards Guntersville, Edmondson and 
Anderson would head him off until he could close in upon him 
from behind and destroy him. The only other alternative open 
to the raider was to plunge farther into the hopeless distance 
which lay between him and the arsenals at Rome and the West- 
ern and Atlantic railroad at Dalton. The " Wizard of the Sad- 
dle " knew he could wear him down before he should reach his 
goal, and with this in mind, at three o'clock in the morning 
of May 1st, all hands were ordered to dismount, unsaddle, feed 
what corn they had brought to their animals, and lie down for 
a two hours' sleep. This was a short nap, considering the fact 
that out of the last forty -eight hours they had ridden stead- 

* Reminiscences of the Pursuit and Capture of Colonel A. D. Streight 
By Lieutenant Jones, of Ferrell's Battery. 

204 



FEDERAL TROOPS IN BLOUNTSVILLE 

ily for forty-four, and for eighteen hours they had fought almost 
without cessation. While the Confederates slept, Streight's tired 
and weary, yet determined band, was winding down the eastern 
slope of the Sand Mountain plateau into the valley of corn and 
plenty. They reached Blountsville at lO A.M. on May-day, and 
instead of the usual festivities, the citizens of this quiet country 
town amused themselves in entertaining their first visitors in blue. 
They furnished corn for two thousand hungry animals, and had 
the pleasure of seeing every horse and mule in all that region 
gathered up and carried away in speeding the parting guests. 
Moreover, they witnessed a lively cavalry fight, which was followed 
by a second entertainment of a second tired and hungry army of 
horses and men, and all within the short space of three hours. It 
was the liveliest day in the history of Blountsville, and the pretty 
Queen-of-the-May was for once neglected. Colonel Streight did 
not tarry longer than was necessary to impress all the horses and 
mules, and corn enough for feed, and to give men and stock a 
much-needed though very brief respite. The persistent hammer- 
ing Forrest had given him had taught him the urgent need of a 
faster pace, and he now determined to rid himself of every possi- 
ble encumbrance to more rapid flight. A fresh supply of ammu- 
nition was distributed to the men, rations issued, and the contents 
of the wagons transferred to pack-mules. The wagons were then 
bunched and set on fire, but just as the smoke was rising in the 
air. General Forrest at the head of his escort and a portion of 
the Fourth Tennessee, charged into the village, driving Captain 
Smith's rear-guard in a whirlwind of dust through and out of the 
town, to seek shelter in the main column of the flying raiders. 
Taking possession of the deserted camp, the Confederates soon 
extinguished the fire in the burning wagons, and secured a rich 
and much-needed booty. Colonel Streight says : " After resting 
about two hours, we resumed our march in the direction of Gads- 
den. The column had not got fairly under motion before our 
pickets were driven in, and a short skirmish ensued between 
Forrest's advance and our rear -guard, under Captain Smith, 
in the town of Blountsville. The enemy followed closely for 
several miles, continually skirmishing with the rear-guard, but 
were badly handled by small parties of our men stopping in 
the bushes by the side of the road, and firing at them at short 

205 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

range."* Despite the great advantages of the Federal leader's 
position, the Confederates never for a moment relaxed their re- 
lentless pursuit, and their general was at the front of it by night 
and day. 

The methods employed by General Forrest to insure discipline, 
and to impress upon the mind of his troopers the importance of 
obtaining information which was absolutely reliable, and not hear- 
say, were original, and at times extremely severe. 

Not far from Blountsville a scout belonging to Captain Bill 
Forrest's company, who had wandered off a mile or two from the 
main road to a country blacksmith's shop, for the purpose of get- 
ting his horse shod, came back to the column at full speed and in 
great perturbation, anxiously inquiring for General Forrest. Rid- 
ing up to the commander, he told him in an excited tone that a 
heavy force of Union cavalry was moving on the road which ran 
parallel with the one upon which his command was marching, and 
that they were then not more than four miles off. Forrest said : 
" Did you see the Yankees?" The man replied : " No ; I did not 
see them myself, but while I was at the blacksmith's shop a citizen 
came galloping up on horseback and told me he had seen them." 
He had scarcely delivered himself of this piece of information 
when General Forrest, with both hands, seized the astonished 
soldier by the throat, dragged him from his horse, and shoving 
him against a tree near the road-side, proceeded to bump his head 
vigorously against the rough bark of the trunk. Having suffi- 
ciently punished the unreliable scout, this overbearing leader of 
men who, when he found it necessary for the good of his com- 
mand, constituted himself judge, jury, and executioner, said: 
" Now, damn you, if you ever come to me again with a pack of 
lies, you won't get off so easily !" Macbeth, springing upon the 
messenger with unpleasant and uncertain news, with that fierce 
denunciation, " The devil damn thee black, thou pale-fac'd loon," 
was not more ungovernable nor unreasonable than was Forrest in 
his furious rage. 

From Blountsville to the Black Warrior River, a run of about 
ten miles, the peril of Streight's rear increased to such an extent 
that he was compelled to turn on his pursuers once more to secure 

* Official Records, vol. xxiii. part i. p. 290. 
206 



STREIGHT AT THE BLACK WARRIOR RIVER 

a crossing of this swift and dangerous stream. Under cover of a 
heavy line of skirmishers he hurried the main portion of the com- 
mand through the rocky ford, with the loss of only two pack- 
mules (each carrying two boxes of hard-bread), which, stumbling 
over the large, loose stones in the bed of this mountain-torrent, 
went under, and were carried away with the current and drowned. 
On the east bank the two howitzers covered the pell-mell with- 
drawal of the skirmish-line, from which, as the Tennesseeans vigor- 
ously charged, several prisoners were taken. With the exception 
of two companies, which were ordered to push onward after the 
Federals and " worry them," Forrest gave his command another 
respite here for three hours. Some of the Confederates were not 
so weary of body but that they found time from sleep to strip off 
and wade in the Warrior, to relieve the dead pack-mules of what 
was '■'■ hard -tack" before it got wet. It did not matter to the 
hungry troopers if it was wet, for as one freckle - faced, brawny 
youth remarked, while struggling up the steep bank with the 
heavy, soaking box on his shoulder : " Boys, it's wet and full of 
mule-hair, but it is a damned sight better than anything the old 
man's a-givin' us now." 

Streight reports that it was about 5 P.M. on the ist of May 
when the last of his command crossed the east branch of the 
Black Warrior. " With the exception of small parties who were 
continually harassing the rear of the column, we proceeded with- 
out further interruption until about nine o'clock the next morn- 
ing, May 2d, when the rear - guard was fiercely attacked at the 
crossing of Black Creek near Gadsden." 

After the short halt at the Warrior, General Forrest had once 
more roused his men for their fourth consecutive night-march, 
and, pushing on, overtook his faithful advance-guard, which was 
then skirmishing with the raiders at Big Will's Creek. Sending 
Biffle's men to the rear for a well - earned rest, and taking their 
place with his escort, he in person now took charge of the attack, 
and, gaining rapidly on the Union column, closed in upon the 
raiders about four miles eastward from where he first struck them, 
at the ever-famous Black Creek bridge. 

Black Creek is a crooked, deep, and sluggish stream, with pre- 
cipitous clay banks and mud bottom. It has its source on the 
plateau of Lookout Mountain, the southern limit of which range 

207 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

is less than one mile to the north. Only a little farther away, in 
a series of precipitous falls and whirling cascades, pure and crys- 
tal while a mountain stream, leaping from rock to rock it falls 
from its high estate to mingle with the stained and muddy 
waters of the lowlands. 

Spanning the creek on the main road leading from Blountsville 
to Gadsden, there stood in 1863 a rude, uncovered wooden bridge. 
There was no other means of crossing the stream (deemed im- 
passable except by bridge or boat) nearer than two miles, where 
there was a second structure, so rickety and unsafe, however, that 
it had been abandoned. Colonel Streight, sorely pressed by his 
pursuers, had built his hopes of escape more upon this obstacle 
in Forrest's path than any other possible to him before he reach- 
ed the Chattooga River near Rome, and he bent every energy to 
cross his command over and destroy this bridge before the Con- 
federates could close in upon him. This accomplished, and be- 
lieving the creek could not be forded, he could take it easy for at 
least half a day, and allow his worn-out cavalcade to sleep and 
to recuperate. By nine o'clock on the morning of May 2d, de- 
spite Forrest's persistent rush at the rear-guard for the last four 
miles, all of his men were over except the rear vidette. His 
howitzers were in position on the eastern bank, fence-rails were 
piled upon the structure, and it was well in flames. At this mo- 
ment a cloud of dust came sweeping down the road ; in front of it, 
at full speed, a man on horseback wearing a blue uniform, and in the 
whirlwind, though not yet distinguishable, a squadron of Confed- 
erates. The man in blue, seeing the bridge ablaze and escape now 
impossible, checked his horse, threw up his hands, and surrendered. 
The foremost man in the pursuing squadron was General Forrest. 

Close by the road-side and some two hundred yards from the 
westerly approach to the bridge was a plain farm-house, having 
only a single story, with two or three rooms on either side of a 
wide-open passageway, after the fashion of the primitive dwell- 
ings of this section of the South. Owning this home, and the 
small tract of land on which it had been built, there lived a widow 
lady and two young unmarried daughters. Their chief means of 
support had been an only son and brother, and they had sent him 
to the war in 1861, in one of the first companies that left Gadsden 
to join the Southern army. He was then away in the Nineteenth 

208 




GENERAL FORREST AND EMMA SANSOM 



BRAVE EMMA SANSOM 

Alabama Infantry, and they, with all they had of help given to the 
cause which they believed was right, were struggling to make the 
little farm yield enough for their support. They owned no slaves, 
nor did at least one-half of the families in the South who gave life 
and whatever property they possessed to the Southern cause. 
They fought no war for slavery, but for what they believed to 
be their right to live like freemen, as they were born, and under 
whatever form of government the majority decreed. This was the 
faith of these honest women. The outside world can scarcely ap- 
preciate the influence of the women of the Southern States in 
carrying on the fight when it was once started. Such was their 
devotion and intensity of purpose that from sixteen to sixty-five 
years of age no able-bodied male was free from the pressure they 
exercised in various ways to attach him to the active service. It 
was this spirit that actuated the widow Sansom and her daughters, 
and on the 2d of May, 1863, one of these daughters wrote her 
name imperishably in history. As long as the fame of Nathan 
Bedford Forrest shall last among men — and it must endure for- 
ever — coupled with it in artless womanhood and heroic pose will 
be the name of Emma Sansom. 

As Forrest came dashing down the road, close on the fleeing 
Federals, this girl of sixteen years, recognizing him as a Confed- 
erate ofificer, and knowing, as she says, " we were now in the midst 
of our own men," told him that the bridge was destroyed, and in 
reply to his questions informed him that there was no other bridge 
nearer than two miles, but that there was near by, on her mother's 
farm, an old ford where, at times, in very low water, she had no- 
ticed the cows wading across the creek, and she believed that he 
and his men might be able to cross there. No one but her folks 
knew anything about this " lost ford," and she would guide him 
to it. So many exaggerated versions of this simple affair have 
found their way in print, that I determined to get from the one 
best able to give it — viz., Emma Sansom, now Mrs. C. B.Johnson, 
of Calloway, Texas — a true statement of the incident. 

Emma Sansom was born at Social Circle, Walton County, 
Georgia, in 1847. I'^ 1852 her father moved from Georgia to the 
home on Black Creek, Alabama, and there died in 1859. She 
writes : " When the war came on, there were three children — a 
brother and sister older than I. In August, 1861, my brother 
o 209 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

enlisted in the second company that left Gadsden, and joined the 
Nineteenth Alabama Infantry, My sister and I lived with our 
mother on the farm. We were at home on the morning of May 
2, 1863, when about eight or nine o'clock a company of men 
wearing blue uniforms and riding mules and horses galloped past 
the house and went on towards the bridge. Pretty soon a great 
crowd of them came along, and some of them stopped at the gate 
and asked us to bring them some water. Sister and I each took a 
bucket of water, and gave it to them at the gate. One of them 
asked me where my father was. I told him he was dead. He 
asked me if I had any brothers. I told him I had ^six.' He asked 
where they were, and I said they were in the Confederate Army. 

* Do they think the South will whip ?' ' They do.' * What do 
you think about it?' *I think God is on our side and we will 
win.' 'You do? Well, if you had seen us whip Colonel Roddey 
the other day and run him across the Tennessee River, you would 
have thought God was on the side of the best artillery.' By this 
time some of them began to dismount, and we went into the 
house. They came in and began to search for fire-arms and men's 
saddles. They did not find anything but a side-saddle, and one of 
them cut the skirts off that. Just then some one from the road 
said, in a loud tone : * You men bring a chunk of fire with you, and 
get out of that house.' The men got the fire in the kitchen and 
started out, and an officer put a guard around the house, saying : 

* This guard is for your protection.' They all soon hurried down 
to the bridge, and in a few minutes we saw the smoke rising and 
knew they were burning the bridge. As our fence extended up 
to the railing of the bridge, mother said : ' Come with me and we 
will pull our rails away, so they will not be destroyed.' As we 
got to the top of the hill we saw the rails were already piled 
on the bridge and were on fire, and the Yankees were in line 
on the other side guarding it. We turned back towards the 
house, and had not gone but a few steps before we saw a 
Yankee coming at full speed, and behind were some more men 
on horses. I heard them shout, * Halt ! and surrender !' The 
man stopped, threw up his hand, and handed over his gun. The 
officer to whom the soldier surrendered said : ' Ladies, do not be 
alarmed, I am General Forrest ; I and my men will protect you 
from harm.' He inquired: 'Where are the Yankees?' Mother 

210 




KM MA SANSOM 
(From a photograph taken at the age of nineteen, three years after llie Black Creek incident^ 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

house he said : ' One of my bravest men has been killed, and he 
is laid out in the house. His name is Robert Turner. I want you to 
see that he is buried in some graveyard near here.' He then told 
me good-bye and got on his horse, and he and his men rode away 
and left us all alone. My sister and I sat up all night watching 
over the dead soldier, who had lost his life fighting for our rights, 
in which we were overpowered but never conquered. General 
Forrest and his men endeared themselves to us forever."* 

Such is the simple story as given me in her own direct way 
by this noble woman. Her presence of mind and coolness, under 
circumstances which would have paralyzed the faculties of most 
women, enabled Forrest to overcome a very formidable obstacle 
in his pursuit of Streight, and gained for him at least three hours 
in time, inestimable in value, since it enabled him to overtake and 
compel his surrender almost within sight of Rome. 

In less than thirty minutes from the time of Forrest's arrival at 
Black Creek, the artillery was up, and the Federals were driven 
away from the opposite bank. The " lost ford " was soon cleared 
and made passable. The cavalry went over, carrying by hand the 
ammunition from the caissons. The guns and empty caissons, 
with long ropes tied to the poles, were then rolled by hand to the 
water's edge, one end of the rope taken to the top of the opposite 
bank and hitched to double teams of horses. In this original 
manner the artillery soon made a subaqueous passage to the east 
bank. The advance-guard had already hurried on after the raid- 
ers, who, to their great surprise, were hustled out of Gadsden, less 
than four miles distant from Black Creek bridge, before they 

* The foregoing account is taken from the manuscript of Mrs. Johnson, in 
possession of the author. Miss Emma Sanson married Mr. C. B. Johnson, 
of Company I, Tenth Alabama regiment, October 29, 1864. They moved to 
Texas in 1876, where her husband died in 1887, leaving her with seven chil- 
dren — five boys and two girls. If they inherit the courage of their mother 
the world should be the better for their coming. The Legislature of Ala- 
bama in 1899 voted her, as a token of "admiration and gratitude," a gift of 
six hundred and forty acres of land, commemorative of her heroic action. 
The note of thanks written by General Forrest in lead-pencil on the stained 
leaf of an old pocket memorandum or account book was presented to the 
writer by Mrs. Johnson, and is doubly treasured by him as coming from such 
a woman and written by such a man. It is the only specimen of the gen- 
eral's war-time writing so far obtained. 

212 



H o 



" 5 

a 3 

3 re 

o = 

« 3 




II 



STREIGHT KEPT MOVING 

could do much damage to the small commissary supplies there. 
Another all-night march now became necessary for Colonel 
Streight, although he says: "The command was in no condition 
to do so. I only halted at Gadsden sufficiently long to destroy a 
quantity of arms and stores found there, and proceeded. Many 
of our animals and men were entirely worn out and unable to 
keep up, and were captured. It now became evident to me that 
our only hope was in crossing the river at Rome and destroying 
the bridge, which would delay Forrest a day or two and allow 
the command a little time to sleep, without which it would be im- 
possible to proceed." 

But alas for all such hope ! The relentless hand which had 
smote him for three successive days and nights, and banished 
sleep from his worn-out cavalcade, was striking at him yet, and 
had no thought of giving him a respite. Streight, in fact, was 
not allowed to stop in Gadsden. As he approached the town, he 
surrounded it, in order to corral all the horses and mules belong- 
ing to the citizens. Impressing these, he set fire to several houses 
containing small quantities of commissaries, and then moved on- 
ward with all the speed possible to his mules and men, all now 
physically exhausted, and the latter mentally dispirited, yet ready 
to fight. If the state of the Hoosier colonel's men and horses 
was so deplorable from fatigue and loss of sleep, what must have 
been the condition of those which were pursuing him ? Forrest's 
men had had no opportunities for obtaining fresh horses or mules 
when theirs succumbed to the terrible strain to which they were 
being subjected. The Federals had swept the country clear of 
live-stock as they marched, and in this, as in the tremendous tacti- 
cal advantage of the ambuscade, they had the Confederate leader 
at great disadvantage. Many of his men had not tasted food in 
twenty-four hours, and a number fell from their horses from sheer 
exhaustion and slept by the road-side as their commands rode al- 
most over their seemingly lifeless bodies. Despite the inspiring 
example of their idolized leader — who did more work and fighting 
than any subordinate — and notwithstanding the details, whose duty 
it was to keep the men awake, rouse up the sleepers and put them 
on their horses, Forrest's command had now crumbled away to a 
mere remnant. From i A.M. on April 29th to noon of May 2d 
they had marched 119 miles and fought almost without cessation, 

213 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

and still the strongest of them pushed on in desperate emulation 
of their indomitable leader. Edmondson and Anderson were not 
up yet — and did not get up until after the surrender. Their duty 
was to keep Streight from escaping northward, and they were do- 
ing this. His ever-faithful and efficient escort, now reduced to 
about forty effectives, some twenty of the remnant of his broth- 
er's scouts, and not over five hundred of Starnes's and Biffle's regi- 
ments (his entire command), made up the full quota of the troops 
with which he marched east of Gadsden. In front of him, and 
fleeing in despair, were more than twice as many brave and picked 
men of the enemy. From Gadsden on, Streight says, " the ene- 
my followed closely, and kept up a continuous skirmish with the 
rear of the column, until 4 P. M., at which time we reached Blount's 
plantation, fifteen miles from Gadsden,* where we procured forage 
for our animals. Here I decided to halt. The command was dis- 
mounted, a detail made to feed the horses and mules, while the 
balance of the command formed in line of battle. Meanwhile the 
rear-guard became severely engaged, and was driven in." 

Forrest, continuing his tactics of worrying his antagonist, and 
knowing the perilous weakness of his own command, advanced his 
sharp-shooters and made all possible show of strength and of as- 
sault. This he kept up vigorously until dark. Colonel Streight 
had set a skilful and dangerous ambuscade, in which he hoped to 
entrap his enemy and destroy him, but such cunning was as native 
to the Confederate leader as to his adversary, and he did not take 
the bait. In this affair Streight's right-hand man, brave Colonel 
Gilbert Hathaway, fell wounded, and expired in a few minutes, 
from a carbine bullet fired by a sharp-shooter, Private Joseph 
Martin. The death of Hathaway sealed the doom of the raiders. 
The Federal commander says : " His loss to me was irreparable. 
His men almost worshipped him, and when he fell it cast a deep 
gloom of despondency over his regiment which was hard to over- 
come. We remained in ambush but a short time when the enemy, 
who by some means had learned of our whereabouts, commenced 
a flank movement. I then decided to withdraw as silently as pos- 
sible." 

On through the night struggled this plucky remnant of Rose- 

* Blount's plantation is twelve miles from Gadsden. 
214 



"DEVILLING" STREIGHT 

crans's picked band of raiders. Bragg's important communica- 
tions between Chattanooga and Atlanta looked very safe now, but 
these men were dying gamely. Forrest was at last sure of his 
quarry, provided he could keep his remnant from destruction by 
ambush. From Gadsden, by a parallel route, he had despatched 
on horseback, to go right through to Rome, a courier who would 
arrive there in good time to warn the citizens to guard or burn 
the bridge, and thus stop the raiders short of their spoil. It was 
too great a danger, with his handful of men, to risk a night fight, 
with all the advantage on the other side. Therefore, picking out 
a squadron of his best-mounted troopers to follow on and " devil 
them all night," he gave his men their first night's rest since 
leaving Courtland. Forrest's foresight in hurrying a courier to 
Rome was not the least important of his brilliant moves in this 
campaign, and was well timed. Colonel John H. Wisdom outdid 
Paul Revere in this famous ride. 

Near Turkeytown, eight miles east of Gadsden, at nightfall of 
May 2d, Streight picked out 200 of the best-mounted men of his 
command, and, placing them under Captain Milton Russell, or- 
dered him to hurry on to Rome and seize and hold the bridge 
until he could get there with the main column. Captain Russell 
pushed on, crossed the Chattooga River in a small ferryboat, and 
on the 3d approached the city to find the bridge barricaded and 
defended by a strong company of home-guards. He concluded 
not to attack, and sent word back to his chief of the condition of 
affairs. 

Meanwhile things were going desperately with Streight, with- 
out regard to Russell's failure, of which as yet he was in igno- 
rance. With heroic persistence he urged his weary, sleepy, and 
worn-out cavalcade by starlight, and by the moon when it came out, 
as far as the Chattooga River, where Captain Russell had crossed. 
Alas ! his subordinate had not left a guard to hold the ferryboat, 
and some citizens, by this time apprised of the warlike character 
of the soldiers who had used it, had spirited the boat away to 
parts undiscoverable. Many a man would have given up in de- 
spair at this moment, but Abel D. Streight was not that sort of a 
man. Several miles distant up this stream there was a bridge, 
and, Moses-like, he led his people thitherward, and verily through 
a wilderness. He says : " We had to pass over an old coal-chop- 

215 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

ping for several miles, where the timber had been cut and hauled 
off for charcoal, leaving innumerable wagon-roads running in 
every direction. The command was so worn out and exhausted 
that many were asleep, and in spite of every exertion I, with the 
aid of such of my officers as were able for duty, could make, the 
command became scattered and separated in several squads, travel- 
ling in different directions, and it was not until near daylight that 
the last of the command had crossed the river." This bridge was 
also burned, and still onward Streight plodded with his troopers 
past Cedar Bluff, twenty-eight miles from Gadsden, at sunup, and 
then wearily on in the direction of Rome, until at 9 A. M., May 3d, 
he stopped at Lawrence to rest and feed. So exhausted were 
his men that, as soon as they were ordered to halt, they sank down 
upon the ground, and many of them fell asleep at once. 

It was with great difficulty that a sufficient number could be 
kept on their feet long enough to give the mules and horses the 
measure of provender due them. It was not so, however, with their 
indomitable commander. He had just received a message from 
Captain Russell that the bridge at Rome was too heavily guarded, 
and he could not take it. He also had heard that a second col- 
umn of Confederates was moving parallel with him, and were now 
nearer to Rome than himself. This was all very depressing news, 
but at this same moment his quick ear caught a sound he knew 
too well, and which, more than all else, banished hope as well as 
sleep. As Sherman called him, " that devil Forrest " was at his 
heels again, and once more the cracking rifles of his rear-guard 
and their relentless pursuers came ringing through the wood. The 
Confederate commander had not been long delayed at the Chat- 
tooga, where Streight had burned the last bridge. He discovered 
that the walking on the bottom of this stream was no worse than 
at Black Creek, even if still more inconvenient than crossing dry 
on a bridge. 

Ten hours of refreshing sleep and rest had wrought wonders in 
Forrest's fragment of a command, and by dawn of day, on May 
3d, his less than six hundred were once more in full cry after the 
raiders. Reaching the burned bridge near Gaylesviile, the ammu- 
nition was carried over in small boats. The horses swam or ford- 
ed with the men on their backs, and the cannon and empty cais- 
sons were pulled over on the river-bottom. So little time was lost 

216 



II 



THE ENEMY SLEEP IN LINE OF BATTLE 

by these adepts at war that by 9 A.M. they were up with the Union 
column, although the latter had trudged along all through the 
night. Forrest advanced at once, making the greatest possible 
display of his small force, yet careful not to make an assault 
which would demonstrate his numerical weakness. In crescentic 
line, and at good distance apart, he advanced his skirmishers un- 
til he had more than half-way surrounded the Federal position. 
From the noise these men made, and the orders given as to the 
disposition and formation of the troops and artillery, one might 
well have thought a brigade or two was being moved in battle 
array rather than a corporal's guard of a little over half a thou- 
sand men. 

In this dire extremity, brave Colonel Streight gathered his of- 
ficers about him, and with them tried to arouse his sleeping men. 
Some of these, when vigorously shaken, raised themselves to a 
sitting posture, stared drowsily about as if dazed and uncertain 
as to where they were, then, nodding, closed their eyes, fell over 
on the earth, and were again asleep. Others made no response 
whatever to the energetic effort made to awaken them. After 
strenuous exertion about one-half of the Federal command strug- 
gled to their feet, and once more pluckily rallied to their colors. 
Their commander lined them up for one more desperate effort, 
and then ordered them to lie down for better protection. They 
did lie down, their heads to the foe, their loaded guns pointed 
along the ground in the direction in which Forrest and his men 
were coming. Then, instead of shutting one eye in deadly aim 
along the gleaming barrels of their rifles, both eyes were closed. 
Gunstock and hammer, barrel and sight and hated foeman faded 
from their vision in the darkness which overcame them. The 
brave fellows were asleep in line of battle. The exultant rebel 
yell, the crack and crackle of pistol and carbine, and the tattoo of 
horses' feet upon the ground as the rear-guard and pickets came 
rushing into camp no longer aroused them. The man of iron had 
worn them out. Colonel Streight, in his official report, says : 
" Nature was exhausted. A large portion of my best troops actu- 
ally went to sleep while lying in line of battle under a severe 
skirmish fire." 

It was at this propitious moment that General Forrest sent 
Captain Henry Pointer, of his staff, with a flag of truce to the 

217 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

Union commander, demanding the surrender of himself and com- 
mand. The wily Confederate, knowing his man, and his own 
questionable position as well, expressed an earnest desire to avoid 
" the further effusion of blood," but took especial pains to leave 
off that terrifying threat of " no quarter, if he had to sacrifice his 
men in the assault," with which he was wont to bluff his antago- 
nists ever since he used it so successfully in his first attack on Mur- 
freesborough. Colonel Streight replied that he would meet Gen- 
eral Forrest to discuss the question, and in the conference asked 
what his proposition was. Forrest replied : " Immediate surren- 
der — your men to be treated as prisoners of war ; the officers to 
retain their side-arms and personal property." Colonel Streight 
requested a few minutes in which to consult his ofiicers. Forrest 
said : " All right, but you will not require much time. I have a 
column of fresh troops at hand, now nearer Rome than you are. 
You cannot cross the river in your front. I have men enough 
right here to run over you." In all of this there was not one 
word of truth ; but this was war, and in war everything is fair. 

Just then one piece of a section of Ferrell's battery, under 
Lieutenant R. G. Jones, came in sight. This officer says : " 1 was 
riding a little in advance of the gun when, suddenly looking up, 
I saw General Forrest, Captain Pointer, one or two other officers, 
and several Federal officers sitting down on the north side of the 
road. A little distance up the road I saw a crowd of Yankees. 
Captain Pointer motioned for me to halt. He then approached 
me and said : ' Colonel Streight objects to your coming up so 
close ; drop back a little.' I moved back with the gun, and came 
to * action front,' with one wheel in the road and the other at the 
edge of the wood. Soon Sergeant Jackson came up with the 
other piece and took position in the other half of the roadway." 

Streight returned to his command, called his officers together, 
and talked over the situation. They voted unanimously to sur- 
render, and their commander, though personally opposed to it, 
and still ready to fight to the death, yielded to the decision of his 
subordinates. The men stacked their guns, and were marched 
away to an open field or clearing, but it was not until the Confed- 
erate general got his small command between the Federal troop- 
ers and their arms that he felt himself secure. For seventy-two 
hours, with no troops in reach excepting the regiments of Biffie 

218 



STREIGHT'S SURRENDER 

and Starnes, his brother's company of scouts, about thirty in num- 
ber, and his personal escort company, and two pieces of artillery, 
Forrest had pursued and fought Streight with four regiments and 
two companies of picked troops and two twelve-pounder howit- 
zers. Moving in front, the Federal commander had cleared up the 
country of all horses and mules, and in this way kept his men sup- 
plied with fresh mounts. He says : " I do not think that at the 
time of surrender we had a score of the mules drawn at Nashville 
left." On the other hand, Forrest had no opportunity of supply- 
ing his men with animals. When, from casting a shoe or other in- 
jury, or from exhaustion, one of his horses gave out, that was the 
end of both man and horse as far as this expedition was concerned. 

Starting from Courtland, Alabama, at one o'clock on the morn- 
ing of the 29th of April, he and his command marched sixteen miles 
to Moulton, thence seventeen miles to Day's Gap. They rode 
and fought nearly all day of April 30th, and through the greater 
portion of that night, reaching Blountsville, seventy-six miles from 
the starting-point, at ten o'clock on the morning of May 1st, the 
time consumed being fifty-seven hours, for fifty-two of which his 
troops were in the saddle. From Blountsville to Gadsden forty- 
three miles additional were covered, and from Gadsden to Law- 
rence, where Streight surrendered, thirty-one miles more, making 
a total distance of one hundred and fifty miles. As the greater 
part of this march was through a mountainous region and over 
bad roads, it is not surprising that the thousand troops with which 
he had started had dwindled down to considerably less than six 
hundred at the finish. To this small force Colonel Abel D. 
Streight surrendered all that was left of the two thousand picked 
troops of the Union army which had left Nashville on April loth. 

Major-General Richard J. Oglesby, in his official report, says: 
" One of Dodge's men, who was with Streight and escaped, says 
that when taken they were worn out, and Forrest captured them 
with five hundred men. Streight thought a large force was after 
him." 

On May loth, Mr. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War, tele- 
graphed General Rosecrans : " The President desires to know 
whether you have any information on the subject [capture of this 
force], and whether Colonel Streight belongs to your command." 
The answer he received was in the affirmative, and ended with the 

2r9 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

explanation that the expedition " was deemed feasible and vastly 
important to us." 

General Braxton Bragg reported to the War Department, at 
Richmond: "May 3d, between Gadsden and Rome, after five 
days and nights of fighting and marching. General Forrest capt- 
ured Colonel Streight and his whole command, about sixteen 
hundred, with rifles, horses, etc." 

The Congress of the Confederate States of America resolved 
that " The thanks of Congress are again due to General N. B. For- 
rest and the officers and men of his command for meritorious ser- 
vice on the field, and especially for the daring, skill, and persever- 
ance exhibited in the pursuit and capture of the largely superior 
forces of the enemy near Rome, Georgia," etc. 

Had the Congress of the Confederate States, or the President, 
in the light of this brilliant achievement, with the recollection of 
Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Murfreesborough, Thompson's station, 
and Brentwood fresh in mind, appreciated the great military gen- 
ius they were hampering with such a small force, and had placed 
him then in command of all the cavalry of the Army of Tennes- 
see, they would have brightened the prospects of an independent 
Confederacy, and have won the appreciation and confidence of the 
Southern people. 

This relentless pursuit of Colonel Streight's expedition has been 
considered by capable military critics not only as one of Forrest's 
most brilliant achievements, but also one of the most remarkable 
performances known to warfare. 

Had Colonel Streight on the night of May 2d, instead of wast- 
ing the already overtaxed strength of his men and animals, gone 
into camp as soon as he found out that Forrest was not pursuing 
him with his entire force, and permitted all or the greater portion 
of his command to have slept until daylight, and then in their im- 
proved condition, and with their superior numbers, had attacked 
Forrest vigorously, he would in all probability have beaten him. 
Retracing his steps, he might then safely have reached Dodge in 
the valley of the Tennessee near Tuscumbia, and thus saved his 
command. Among the fatal mistakes made in the conception 
and execution of this daring expedition, this all-night march, which 
accomplished such a very short distance, was the greatest. The 
result was that Forrest and his men and horses were fresh and vig- 

220 



1>^' 




11 



RECEPTION AT ROME, GEORGIA 

orous in the morning while their enemy were hopelessly worn out. 
They marched within the first four hours of daylight the same dis- 
tance that it took the Federals eleven hours to make. 

Another error which contributed largely to the failure of 
Streight was that his command was not suited to the work in 
hand. It should have been seasoned cavalrymen instead of troops 
taken from the infantry and mounted without being accustomed 
to the saddle. It was the universal testimony of the men that 
they were soon so chafed and sore from being unaccustomed to 
the saddle that many of ihem could not retain their seats without 
great discomfort. It was also an error to suppose that mules were 
better suited to this work than horses. As shown by the seasoned 
horses of Forrest's command, they were much better fitted for 
great and prolonged exertion than mules. These are better draft 
animals, and can haul heavier loads on less forage than horses, but 
they cannot get over the ground as well, as shown by the rapidity 
with which Forrest overhauled the raiders. Again, General Dodge 
failed in giving the support to Streight's movement that Streight 
expected and that the general could have given. He had a com- 
mand at Town Creek on the morning of the day on which Forrest 
left his front sufficient to have driven the Confederates across the 
Tennessee River towards their base at Tullahoma, and had he 
vigorously attacked the Southern troops left on the east bank of 
Town Creek, near Courtland, he would have made it impossible 
for Forrest to have withdrawn as many of his men for the pursuit 
of Streight as he took with him. 

It is safe to say that there entered into Rome, Georgia, on the 
3d of May, 1863, the hungriest triumphal procession in the history 
of this borough. The victorious troops were royally entertained 
by the citizens, and men and horses soon forgot the severe ordeal 
to which they had been subjected. Even the unfortunate prison- 
ers were not neglected. Sergeant Briedenthal, in his diary, from 
which I have already quoted, says on May 5th : " We have been 
treated well since our surrender, by Forrest's men, who have used 
us as a true soldier would treat a prisoner." 

The Georgia Romans presented to the Confederate general the 
finest saddle-horse their country afforded. The 6th of May had 
been set apart as a gala-day, with a barbecue and celebration in 
honor of Forrest ^nd his men ; but on the night of the 5th a 

221 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

courier came into Rome from Gadsden with the intelligence that 
another heavy Federal expedition was advancing from Tuscumbia 
towards Talladega, Alabama. Instead of the expected feast, the 
disappointed troopers mounted their horses and followed their 
leader on a forced march back to Gadsden, where they arrived 
May 7th, only to learn that instead of advancing east of Court- 
land, General Dodge had fallen back to Corinth. Forrest re- 
mained in Gadsden on the night of the 7th, the guest of Colonel 
R. B. Kyle, still living in that city in 1898. This gentleman says : 
" As Forrest was returning from the capture of Streight, at Rome, 
he stayed all night at my house. Forrest's terrific pursuit of 
Streight, and the capture of his large command with a force only 
one -third as numerous as the enemy, had, of course, filled the 
country through which Streight had passed with the idea that 
Forrest was a tremendous fighter, and gave me the impression 
that his mind would be occupied only with things concerning the 
war; but the only thing that seemed to concern him while in my 
house, for almost a day and all night, was my little two-year-old 
boy, to whom he took a great fancy, holding him on his lap and 
carrying him around the place in his arms. The little child 
showed great fondness for him, and loved to stay with him. 
The next day, when Forrest rode away in the direction of Gun- 
tersville, he took the little fellow two or three miles on the road 
with him, holding him on the saddle in front of him, and I 
rode along this distance in order to bring the child home to his 
mother. He kissed the little fellow tenderly as he bade him 
good-bye, and, turning to me, said, ' My God, Kyle, this is worth 
living for !' " 

From Gadsden a detachment was sent back on the line of the 
recent march to gather up the wounded prisoners and all aban- 
doned supplies. The command was ordered to proceed to Athens, 
in Limestone County, Alabama, north of the Tennessee River, 
while Forrest passed through Guntersville and on to Huntsville, 
where he was given a grand ovation and presented with another 
superb horse. Arriving at General Bragg's headquarters, he was 
directed to take command of the cavalry on the left wing of his 
army, in place of General Earl Van Dorn, who had been killed 
while Forrest was absent in pursuit of Streight. In obedience to 
this order, he arrived at Spring Hill on the i6th of May, 1863. 

222 



CHAPTER X 

FROM TULLAHOMA TO CHATTANOOGA 

Attempt to Assassinate Forrest — Desperate Personal Encounter — He Kills His Assailant 
— A Second Reconnaissance in Force at Franklin — Forrest Drives the Union Forces 
into Their Fort and Takes Possession of the Town — Mistakes a Signal-Flag for a 
Truce and Approaches for a Parley — Chivalrous Act of a Federal Soldier, Who 
Warns Him to Halt — The Execution of Two Confederate Soldiers as Spies, " to 
Prevent the Possibility of Forrest Profiting by the Information They had Gained " 
— Reconnaissance in Force at Triune — Capture of a Large Herd of Cattle — With- 
drawal of the Cavalry to TuUahoma — Fight at Shelbyville — General Joseph 
Wheeler's Leap — Gordon Granger Misses the Opportunity of a Lifetime — Death 
of the Lamented Starnes — Forrest Meets a Detachment of Wilder's Command in a 
Road and Marches by without being Recognized — The Retreat through Cowan — 
The Confederate General Put to Flight by a Fiery Dame— Dibrell Whips Minty at 
Sparta — Forrest, South of Chattanooga, and in Conjunction with Wheeler, Heads 
off Stanley's Raid upon the Western and Atlantic Railroad — Encounter with 
Wilder's Brigade near Ringgold — Forrest again Wounded — Bragg Fails in Strategy. 

FOR -the last two weeks in May, and until the 25th of June, 
General Forrest, in command of two brigades (Starnes's and 
Armstrong's), served on picket and scout duty on the left 
wing of Bragg's army, in the " neutral ground " between Spring 
Hill and Columbia on the south, and Franklin and Triune on the 
north. The division under General W. H. Jackson had been sent 
to the department of Mississippi. Daily encounters between the 
outpost pickets of the opposing armies and small scouting detach- 
ments occurred, but nothing of importance was accomplished be- 
yond maintaining the integrity of the Confederate lines by this 
vigilance of the cavalry. 

It will be remembered that in the engagement on Sand Moun- 
tain near Day's Gap, during Streight's raid, two pieces of artillery 
were captured from the Confederates. General Forrest had never 
been satisfied with the manner in which these guns were han- 
dled on that occasion, and, without pressing any charges against 
the officer in command, when he returned to Tennessee in May, 
in the reorganization of the artillery which ensued, this lieutenant 

223 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 



y 



was transferred to another battery at Forrest's request. The 
young officer resented this action as an unjust imputation upon 
his courage, and in a moment of rashness determined to seek re- 
dress even to the extent of making Forrest the victim of his pri- 
vate vengeance. The latter had been called to Columbia on busi- 
ness with the quartermaster's department, and while dining at 
the house of a friend in this city the lieutenant in question called 
and asked for an interview. He was informed that General For- 
rest would see him at the quartermaster's office at a certain hour 
in the afternoon, and at the appointed time the young man ar- 
rived. As there were a number of persons in the room, presum- 
ing that he wished to speak privately. General Forrest suggested 
that they walk out into the hall where they could converse with- 
out interruption. The building was so constructed that there was a 
wide hall running from the front entirely to the rear, with the rooms 
opening upon this hallway from either side. While Forrest was 
yet in the office with the quartermaster, he had in his hand a 
small penknife, which was closed, and which he was twirling be- 
tween the thumb and finger of his right hand by striking the end 
of the knife with the thumb of the opposite hand. As they 
walked slowly side by side the lieutenant spoke to Forrest in an 
earnest and excited manner about being left out of the battery in 
the reorganization, asked why it had been done, and insisted upon 
being reinstated. General Forrest replied that he did not care 
to discuss the matter, that his decision was final, and that he need 
not hope to serve again in his command. At this moment the 
lieutenant drew a pistol, and, although Forrest was watchful and 
exceedingly quick, before he could grasp the weapon which was 
being drawn and pointed towards him, it was discharged when 
the muzzle was nearly in contact with his body. The bullet, of 
large caliber, entered the left hip just above the joint, striking 
the edge of the bone of the pelvis a little to the outer side of 
and below the anterior superior spinous process. Being deflected 
outward, it passed back through the body without coming in con- 
tact with the iliac vessels or the intestines. With his left hand 
(Forrest was left-handed) he grasped the right hand of his assail- 
ant, in which the pistol was held, and thus prevented a second 
shot. Deliberately with the right hand he carried the penknife 
to his mouth, and, holding the handle between his fingers, with 

224 



KILLS AN ASSAILANT 

his teeth he opened the largest blade and quickly thrust it into 
the abdomen of his assailant, ripping the peritoneal cavity open 
and inflicting a mortal wound. At this juncture the lieutenant 
dropped his pistol and ran to the rear of the building, leaped over 
a low fence into a side street, and proceeded rapidly a short dis- 
tance, when he ran into a shop and lay down upon the counter. 
General Forrest walked out of the front of the building and along 
the sidewalk to the ofifice of a physician near by. Removing his 
trousers sufficiently to permit the wound to be examined, he asked 
the doctor whether or not, in his opinion, it was a mortal injury. 
After a brief inspection the surgeon said that he could not tell 
positively without probing, but from the location and seeming di- 
rection of the missile, taking into consideration the warm weather, 
it was probably a fatal wound. At this Forrest rearranged his 
clothes, seized a pistol from a member of his staff who had followed 
him, and rushed out into the street, saying to those who tried 
to restrain him, " Get out of my way ; he has mortally wounded 
me, and I intend to kill him before I die." Some one informed 
the wounded Heutenant that Forrest was coming after him, and 
he immediately ran out of the building and up the street until he 
fell from exhaustion. A crowd at once gathered around him, so 
that Forrest could not get close enough to shoot him. Some one 
said : " General, you need not trouble yourself to kill him, he is al- 
ready dying." Forrest said : " All right, if you are sure of this I 
won't shoot him, but, damn him, he has killed me, and I am de- 
termined he shall die too." Being now convinced that the young 
lieutenant could not live, he directed some of his men to place 
his assailant on a stretcher, carry him to the hotel, and have him 
properly cared for. Forrest himself was by this time very weak 
from loss of blood, and had to be carried to the residence of a 
friend, where he rapidly recovered from his injury. 

Two days later, when the young officer was rapidly sinking from 
septic peritonitis, which followed a perforation of the intestine, he 
sent word to General Forrest that, if it were possible, he desired 
to have him come to see him, as he wished to speak with him be- 
fore he died. To this request Forrest acceded, and was carried 
into the lieutenant's room. An eye-witness to the interview in- 
forms me that the officer took the general by the hand, and held it 
between both of his, saying, " General, I shall not be here long, 
p 225 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

and I was not willing to go away without seeing you in person 
and saying to you how thankful I am that I am the one who is to 
die and that you are spared to the country. What I did, I did in 
a moment of rashness, and I want your forgiveness." Forrest 
leaned over the bed upon which the young man was lying, told 
him he forgave him freely, and that his own heart was full of re- 
gret that the wound he had inflicted was fatal. 

My informant says : " Forrest wept like a child. It was the 
saddest of all the sad incidents of the long and bitter war I wit- 
nessed." 

Although the authorities at Richmond were yet so blind to the 
great military ability which Forrest had displayed, those at the 
head of affairs at Washington were beginning to place a proper 
estimate upon him. On the 29th of May, Edwin M. Stanton, Mr. 
Lincoln's famous War Secretary, wired Major-General W. S. Rose- 
crans, at Murfreesborough, that " much apprehension is felt at the 
North that the enemy would escape from your front and fall on 
Grant, and we are also anxious on that account to know where 
Forrest is, for report says he has gone south for that purpose." 
Stanton knew full well that if Forrest, with a proper command, 
got after Grant's communications, that general would suffer in 
consequence, and Rosecrans must keep him busy. 

During the first week of June, Forrest was informed that Gen- 
eral Granger had transferred his headquarters from Franklin to 
Triune, a town some fifteen miles eastward from the former place, 
situated about half-way between Murfreesborough and Franklin. 
In order to determine the strength of the forces still left in this 
latter place, he advanced with his two brigades on June 4th. 
Marching on the Columbia and Franklin pike at the head of 
Starnes's brigade, he despatched Armstrong with his troops on 
the road leading from Lewisburg to Franklin. About three miles 
distant from Franklin, on both roads, the Federal pickets were 
encountered and chased into town, a number of captures being 
made by Colonel Starnes. Forrest, with his accustomed boldness, 
charged on horseback right into the heart of the borough, shield- 
ing his troops as much as possible by keeping the houses between 
them and the fort. Here Colonel J. P. Baird, of the Eighty-fifth 
Indiana Infantry, commanding, had taken refuge with his soldiers, 

226 



A NEARLY FATAL MISTAKE 

and began a vigorous display of signal-flags, calling urgently for 
help to his chief, General Gordon Granger, who was at Triune. 
The Confederate commander interpreted this white flag to mean 
a truce, and, ordering his men to cease firing, rode forward with an 
attendant, displaying a like pacific emblem, cherishing the hope 
that if he could have an interview with Colonel Baird he might 
persuade him, by surrendering, to " prevent the further efi"usion of 
blood." He had not proceeded sufificiently far on his journey to 
catch the eye of Colonel Baird, when, from a loop-holed fence or 
wall near by, a Union soldier who recognized him shouted out: 
" General Forrest, you will retire at once. There is no truce ; 
that is a signal-flag." Raising his hat in recognition of this gen- 
erous act, he retraced his steps immediately. 

The two guns of Morton's battery that had accompanied him 
were now unhitched from the horses and rolled along the prin- 
cipal street by hand, and in this way he advanced with his men 
on foot, shelling the Union troops in the houses and in the fort. 
Having possession of the place, with the exception of the fortifi- 
cations on the bluff, and some few loop-holed houses immediately 
under the protection of the garrison, he ordered the jail doors to 
be battered down, and released a number of political prisoners 
held in confinement by the enemy. The sutler's stores and com- 
missaries were also promptly emptied by his troopers, and their 
contents piled into wagons, impressed for this purpose, and hauled 
away. 

While Forrest was having such an easy time in this part of the 
village, things were not going so smoothly with Armstrong, who 
had been posted over on the side of Franklin nearest to Triune. 
In response to Colonel Baird's signals for help. General Granger 
in great haste had despatched the First brigade of cavalry, under 
Colonel A. P. Campbell, to the rescue. This excellent command, 
composed of the Second Michigan, Fourth and Sixth Kentucky, 
and Ninth Pennsylvania regiments, reached within one and a half 
miles of Franklin just before sundown on the 4th of June, and 
dashed into Armstrong's brigade in quick fashion. This officer 
had advanced Woodward's battalion and five companies of the 
First Tennessee Cavalry this distance out on the Triune road, and 
was on the lookout for these very reinforcements. Unfortunately 
he had not brought up the remainder of his brigade, which was 

227 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

still south of the Harpeth River. With the few he had on hand, 
Armstrong, with characteristic stubbornness and gallantry, re- 
sisted the vigorous attacks of the enemy in his front, in the hope 
of effecting a safe withdrawal, which he finally accomplished, al- 
though the Federal troopers pushed him vigorously to within 
sight of the river. Here Colonel Hobson, with his regiment, 
hearing the brisk firing in his front, advanced hurriedly to rein- 
force Armstrong, and was successful in covering his retreat across 
this stream. Forrest, on hearing the heavy sound of musketry in 
that direction, and noticing that it was drifting southward, gath- 
ered from this that Armstrong was being driven back, and, fear- 
ing a strong force might be interposed between the detachment 
under himself and Spring Hill, he immediately withdrew from his 
point of vantage to the south side of Harpeth River, and soon 
thereafter joined General Armstrong. Night had now come on, 
and both brigades retired to a point three miles distant from the 
river in the direction of Spring Hill, and there encamped for the 
night. The Federal commander made no attempt to follow the 
Confederates. He reports fifteen killed and wounded Confeder- 
ates, and the capture of eighteen men of Armstrong's brigade, 
among whom were four of the latter's escort. Colonel Baird, who 
was chief in command of the post, reports, however, only ten 
prisoners in all, while his own loss " will not exceed ten killed 
and wounded." Colonel Faulkner, of the Union cavalry, was re- 
ported mortally wounded. The Confederates retired the next 
day to their former position at Spring Hill. 

At dark on June 8th, 1863, two men on horseback, clad in the 
uniform of the Federal army, and with equipments belonging to 
officers in the Union service, arrived in Franklin, and called at 
the headquarters of Colonel J. P. Baird, commanding that post. 
The two men, whose general appearance and conversation indi- 
cated that they were persons of education, and presumably of im- 
portance, introduced themselves as Inspector-General Lawrence 
Auton, Colonel in the United States Army, and Assistant In- 
spector-General Major Dunlap. They presented to Colonel Baird 
an order from Adjutant -General Townsend, assigning them to 
duty in that quarter; also an order from Major-General W. S. 
Rosecrans, countersigned by Brigadier-General James A. Garfield, 
chief of staff, asking them to inspect his outposts, and enclosing 

228 



HANGING OF CONFEDERATE SPIES 

a pass through all lines from General Rosecrans. Colonel Auton 
told the Federal commander that in coming over from Murfrees- 
borough he had unfortunately wandered off on the wrong road 
several miles in the direction of Eagleville, had there run into an 
outpost of rebel pickets. In the effort to escape, his orderly had 
been wounded and captured, and in his flight he himself had lost 
his overcoat, and with it his pocket-book with what money he 
was carrying. He requested Colonel Baird to be good enough to 
advance him enough money to take him to Nashville, where he 
would be able to obtain any amount he might need. While they 
were conversing upon various subjects with Colonel Baird and his 
staff, who were entertaining them until some questions could be 
asked over the telegraph, this officer sent a despatch to Garfield 
at Murfreesborough, asking if any such inspectors had received 
instructions and passes through the lines. Garfield promptly re- 
sponded that there were no such men of his acquaintance, that no 
passes had been issued, and added : " The two men are no doubt 
spies. Call a drum-head court-martial to-night, and if they are 
found to be spies hang them before morning without fail." Colonel 
Baird wired back that he had arrested them, and that they had 
confessed they were Confederate spies. He said : "Their ruse was 
nearly successful on me. My bile is stirred, and some hanging would 
do me good." They were tried and found guilty in short order, 
but as the trial progressed Colonel Baird's heart softened, and he 
now wanted to shift the role of executioner to some one else. He 
wired Rosecrans: " If you can direct me to send them to hang 
somewhere else I would like it," His commander-in-chief, how- 
ever, was inexorable, and repeated his order: "If found guilty, 
hang at once, thus placing it beyond the possibility of Forrest's 
profiting by the information they have gained." They were 
hanged early on the morning of the 9th of June, 1863, and Colo- 
nel Baird testifies in his report that " they died like soldiers." 

It transpired that these unfortunate men were Colonel William 
Orton Williams and Lieutenant Walter G. Peter, of the Confeder- 
ate army. They died without making any disclosure of their pur- 
poses, nor to this day has it been revealed from whence they 
came and what object they had in view in this rash enterprise. 

General Bragg, on this same day of June 9th, directed Forrest to 
make a forced reconnaissance of the enemy's position at Triune ; 

229 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

and taking his entire division (with the exception of a strong 
picket line), and also Avery's and Crew's Georgia regiments, he 
moved out on the morning of June loth. Approaching Triune 
on the Chapel Hill pike, the First Tennessee (Union) Cavalry was 
encountered and driven pell-mell into the town. Following on 
their heels, Forrest, with his light artillery at hand, came in close 
range of the Federal encampment, which he at once began to 
shell, driving everything in his front under cover of the breast 
works. Seeing only cavalry in the field, the Federal infantry 
moved out in force and compelled the Confederates to retire. 
The number of troops in sight demonstrated to Forrest that the 
place was occupied by a large force of infantry as well as cavalry, 
and, as the latter was now menacing both his flank and rear, he 
retreated rapidly to place the Harpeth River between his com- 
mand and the enemy. 

The First (Union) brigade, under Colonel Campbell, had been hur-j 
ried, by order of Brigadier-General Mitchell, commanding the di 
vision,* along the right of the pike, while the Second brigade was 
sent to the left of this highway to gain the Confederate rear. 
Skirmishing briskly as he retired, Forrest recrossed the Harpeth 
and continued on his way to Spring Hill without further in- 
terruption. General Robert B. Mitchell says : " Being without 
artillery, and the enemy having obtained such an advance, I did 
not deem it advisable to follow them farther." The losses were 
insignificant on either side. General Granger, who was in com- 
mand, despatched Rosecrans : " I think it was only a reconnais- 
sance." The Union losses, as ofificially given, were four killed, 
eighteen wounded, and six missing. Forrest made no report of 
his losses which appears in the records. As the casualties were 
in open fight, and between the cavalry, there should be no ma- 
terial difference in the number of killed and wounded on the two 
sides. 

While the fighting was in progress. Major Jeffrey Forrest, who 
had been ordered by his brother to take advantage of the retire- 
ment of the Union troops and drive off a large herd of beef cattle 
grazing in a field near by, accomplished this important duty suc- 
cessfully, and this valuable herd was the chief trophy of the ex- 
pedition. 

* Official Records, vol. xxiii. part i. p. 375. 
230 



I 




MAJOR O. V. KAMBAUT 
Chief of Subsistence, Forrest's Cavalry 



RETREATING BEFORE ROSECRANS 

General Bragg, being fully informed of the intended advance of 
the army under Rosecrans, which began on the 22d of June, 1863, 
and convinced of the inadvisability of risking a great battle with 
such a large stream as the Tennessee River immediately in his rear, 
ordered General Forrest to withdraw his picket-lines and retreat 
via Shelbyville to Tullahoma, In accordance with this order, 
Forrest, without incident, reached the vicinity of Shelbyville be- 
tween five and six o'clock on the afternoon of the 27th of June. 
It was his purpose to unite there with the cavalry under General 
Wheeler, crossing Duck River on the bridge in that town. Major- 
General Wheeler, to whom had been assigned the protection of 
the immense train of wagons which was employed in removing 
the valuable supplies which had been accumulated at Shelbyville, 
had been furiously attacked some two miles north of this place 
about two o'clock of that afternoon. As the wagons were at that 
time crossing the bridge in Shelbyville, and spread out for many 
miles along the muddy and almost impassable road leading in the 
direction of Tullahoma, he felt the urgent necessity of holding the 
enemy in check until the train could clear the bridge and get a 
start south of the river. This he had accomplished, although by 
stress of numbers and by very gallant fighting on the part of the 
Union troops in this engagement he had at last been driven into 
Shelbyville near sunset. With slight losses, and after a lively cav- 
alry engagement, he had successfully withdrawn his command, 
and was on the south bank of Duck River prepared to set fire to 
the bridge. 

At this moment Major Rambaut, of General Forrest's staff, ar- 
rived, and reported that his commander with two brigades was 
within sight of Shelbyville and advancing rapidly to secure a 
crossing. Seeing the danger that threatened Forrest's command, 
Wheeler, although the Federals in strong force were then in the 
suburbs of Shelbyville and advancing into the town, hurriedly re- 
crossed to the north side of Duck River in company with General 
Martin and five hundred men of this officer's division, taking with 
them two pieces of artillery, which they planted so as to com- 
mand the approach to the bridge. He had scarcely reached the 
northerly terminus of the bridge when the Union troopers came 
charging in columns of fours right down the main street and 
towards the guns. These had been loaded with canister and were 

231 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

fired at the daring Union cavalry when only a few paces from their 
muzzles. Generals Wheeler and Martin, with their five hundred 
men, had lined up as best they could under the pressure of this 
charge, and held their ground manfully as the Federal cavalry rode 
through and over them, beat the cannoneers off and took pos- 
session of the two pieces. Having the bridge now in their pos- 
session, the Union troopers, thinking they had the forlorn hope 
of Confederates in their trap, formed their line across the entrance 
to the bridge and along the bank of Duck River, above and below 
this outlet. In the great confusion which had prevailed, a cais- 
son had been overturned, and now thoroughly obstructed the 
bridge. Realizing the desperate strait in which he was. Gen- 
eral Wheeler — as did the brave Poniatowski at Leipsic — sabre in 
hand, shouted to his men that they must cut their way through 
and swim the river, ordered the charge, and, with General Martin, 
led in the desperate venture. The Federals, being cut right and 
left, were forced to yield and let them through. Not stopping for 
a moment to consider the distance from the crest of the river-bank 
— which was here precipitous — to the water-level, these gallant 
soldiers followed their invincible leader, and leaped at full speed 
sheer fifteen feet down into the swift and headstrong current, for 
the river was then high from recent heavy rains. As they struck 
the water with such great velocity, horses and riders went out of 
sight, some of them to rise no more. Those who came up were 
a considerable distance out in the stream, and had been washed 
rapidly down with the current when they emerged. The Feder- 
als rushed to the water's edge and fired at the brave men strug- 
gling in the river below, who preferred death to captivity. One 
officer was severely wounded, his arm being broken, but he still 
held on to his horse's mane, and was carried safely to the shore. 
Generals Wheeler and Martin escaped uninjured, having clung 
to their horses, and reached the southern bank. Some forty or 
fifty were thought to have perished by drowning. The gallant 
Wheeler never made a braver fight or did a more heroic and gen- 
erous act than when he here risked all to save Forrest from dis- 
aster. That night General Gordon Granger missed the opportu- 
nity of a lifetime. Within nine miles of him, stretched along 
and floundering through the muddy road to Tullahoma, Bragg's 
enormous train of wagons, for which Wheeler had made his des- 

232 



OPERATING AT TULLAHOMA 

perate fight and sacrificed his men against overwhelming odds, 
was creeping at a snail's pace through that dreary night, and with- 
out adequate protection. 

Forrest had turned back when he arrived near Shelbyville and 
found it and the bridge in possession of the Union forces. As it 
was four miles to the nearest bridge on which he could cross, he 
was forced to make a detour of eight miles in order to get back to 
the rear of the train for its protection. Martin's division was tem- 
porarily in disorganization. There was not a handful of effective 
troops between General Granger and the train, and, with the bridge 
in his possession, had he been as bold and persistent in pursuit as 
Forrest, he would have destroyed those wagons before daylight 
and inflicted a staggering blow to General Bragg. General D. S. 
Stanley wished to follow on that night, but his chief dissented. 
Satisfied with the performance of the day, as reported by his sub- 
ordinate. Colonel R. H. G. Minty, the Federals "bivouacked near 
the railroad station in Shelbyville."* 

General Forrest, who had the science and art of running — when 
it was the thing to do — as well in mind as that of fighting, took to 
his heels when he learned that Wheeler's men had been driven 
across Duck River, and sought safety in the crossing of this stream 
four miles east of Shelbyville. General Granger, on June 28th, says : 
" Forrest passed around our rear last night, moving eastward. 
Had I known he was so doing, I could have thrown my force 
between the retreating army and his forces." f On the 27th he 
had despatched Rosecrans after he entered Shelbyville : " Very 
few stores are to be found. Their wagon -train cannot possibly 
be more than nine miles distant, and the roads are very heavy. I 
hope to be able to destroy it." Wheeler had done his work well in 
clearing Shelbyville of all supplies and escaping to Tullahoma with 
his train. Granger had beaten him in battle with superior forces, 
but not until he had fought his enemy to a stand-still, and left him 
too badly worn out to pursue beyond Shelbyville. 

On the next day, June 28th, General Forrest reached the main 
army at Tullahoma, and was assigned to duty in observation on 
the Manchester and Tullahoma road. Colonel James W. Starnes, 
with his brigade, was posted on the route towards Manchester, and 

* Official Records, vol. xxiii. part i. p. 558. t Ibid. p. 535. 

233 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

Colonel Dibrell, with his regiment, moved towards Hillsborough. 
On the 30th of June, in front of Tullahoma, Starnes encountered ' 
the advance of Rosecrans's army, and with his usual intrepidity 
assailed it in order to develop its strength. Throwing out a strong 
skirmish line, and following the precepts of the great soldier under 
whom he had been trained, he advanced with his skirmishers. 
Captain W. A. Hubbard,* of Colonel Starnes's Fourth Tennessee 
regiment, seeing his beloved commander approach his position, 
where the firing was brisk and at dangerously close range, begged 
him to retire to the main line. Starnes thanked him for his 
thoughtful consideration, but, as usual, remained at the front. 
Within a few minutes a missile from the rifle of a sharp-shooter 
wounded him unto death. Thus fell this worthy physician, brave 1 1 
soldier, and noble man, in the prime of life and on the threshold 
of a great career. It may be said of him that on every occasion 
he did his duty. He had no fault, unless it was the constant rash 
exposure of himself to danger. He believed it was a soldier's 
duty to fight, and to die when the time should come. When 
Napier pronounced his ever-to-be-remembered eulogium upon his 
comrade in arms, he shaped the phrase which may well be applied 
to Starnes, for " none died with greater glory than he, though 
many died, and there was much glory !" 

From Hillsborough Colonel Dibrell, hearing that Colonel Wilder 
with the Seventeenth Indiana mounted infantry and his brigade 
was marching on Decherd, hastened to the relief of the garrison of 
one company which was guarding the stockade there. The Fed- 
erals had only partially destroyed the railroad when Dibrell at- 
tacked and drove them off. Wilder says, on the 30th : " A large 
force was by this time approaching, and, having destroyed about 
three hundred yards of track, we left ; believing that I would have 
but little chance of success in a fight with them, on account of the 
darkness and our total ignorance of the ground, we retired." 
Forrest, with his escort in advance, followed by a portion of one 
of his brigades, started in the direction of Pelham to intercept 
Wilder. It was raining, and he and his escort of sixty men (their 
identity concealed by the heavy oilcloth cloaks which housed 

* Personal communication from Captain Hubbard, in possession of the 
author. 

234 




COLONEL JAMLS W. STARNKS 
Fourth Tennessee Cavalry — Commanding Brigade 



PASSES THE ENEMY WITHOUT RECOGNITION 

them in) were well in advance of the command. Suddenly, and 
just ahead of them, and also advancing around a short turn in 
the road, they met a detachment of mounted troops of about 
equal numbers and similarly clad in non-committal water-proofs. 
The two companies were soon side by side in the highway, when 
Forrest asked what company it was. The captain replied, nam- 
ing a company in Wilder's mounted infantry. Forrest coolly re- 
joined that his was Company C in a cavalry regiment, naming a 
Federal division which was under another commander. Not sus- 
pecting the deceit, Wilder's men passed by them in the road, and 
went on their way. The Confederate commander, feeling assured 
that they would soon collide with his troops, which he supposed 
were not more than a mile behind him, had determined to pro- 
ceed only far enough to get out of sight of the company he had 
just passed, in order to form his men across the way and inter- 
cept them when they should come towards him in retreat. Un- 
fortunately, not a great distance ahead, as he advanced, he ob- 
served Wilder's main column approaching. He then immediately 
and quickly turned back, and soon ran into and through the Fed- 
eral advance he had some minutes before passed, capturing and 
killing a number of these, and causing a stampede among the rest. 
Before Forrest could reach his command and return to attack 
Wilder this wary leader had escaped, "just getting ahead of 
Forrest, who, with nine regiments of cavalry and two pieces of 
artillery, aimed to intercept us at Pelham.""* 

Bragg's army was now in full retreat to Chattanooga, and to 
Forrest's division was assigned the duty of securing and holding 
the pass or gap through the Cumberland Mountains near Cowan, 
Tennessee. Numerous small skirmishes occurred, but nothing 
of sufficient importance to be recorded, except the following : 
After the infantry had passed through Cowan and up the moun- 
tain, the Federal cavalry, hovering in their rear, came in contact 
with the rear -guard under Forrest in person. Firing and fall- 
ing back rapidly, the Confederate troopers went through the 
village and towards the gap. As the general, among the last in 
retreat, was passing a house, he noticed a woman who was berat- 
ing his soldiers for not turning on the Yankees and " whipping 

* Official Records, vol. xxiii. part i. p. 461. 
235 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

them back." Shaking her fist at Forrest, the stars on whose col- 
lar she was too angry to observe or too near-sighted to see, she 
shrieked out: "You great big cowardly rascal; why don't you 
turn and fight like a man, instead of running like a cur? I wish 
old Forrest was here, he'd make you fight!" The general, unable 
to control himself, burst into a laugh as he put spurs to his horse 
and fled the scene. When telling this incident he said that he 
would rather have faced a battery than that fiery dame. A few 
days later the army crossed to the south bank of the Tennessee, 
and in July the cavalry was ordered into various districts in 
which forage could be obtained, for rest and recuperation. 

From Chattanooga, on July 27th, General Forrest ordered Colo- 
nel G. G. Dibrell to take his Eighth Tennessee regiment across 
the Tennessee and proceed to the vicinity of Sparta, Tennessee, 
to watch a corps of Rosecrans's army, which was then stationed 
at McMinnville, twenty -six miles from Sparta. Dibrell reached 
Sparta July 29th, and encamped on his own plantation, two miles 
out from the town. On August 9th, Colonel Robert H.G. Minty 
endeavored to surprise Colonel Dibrell and his troops. He took 
the Fourth Regulars, Seventh Pennsylvania, Fourth Michigan, 
and a battalion of the Third Indiana, numbering, as he states, 
seven hundred and seventy-four effectives, and marched all night 
to pounce upon this single regiment of three hundred men, and 
managed to put in a very busy day when he found them. Four 
miles away, Dibrell's pickets at daylight fired into Minty *s ad- 
vance-guard, and broke for camp. The Fourth Michigan fol- 
lowed at full tilt, but the Tennesseeans beat them in, and kept 
up such a racket as they ran that the Confederates in camp were 
aroused, saddled up, and were ready for the surprise-party. A sin- 
gle company was left in front to check their advance, while Dibrell 
led the other companies behind Wild Cat Creek, where the banks 
were high and steep, and, by reason of a mill-dam, no crossing 
could be made except over a narrow, rickety bridge, which the 
Confederates covered with their rifles. As the Union troopers 
charged in at full speed, Dibrell, at close range, opened on them 
with great effect, threw them into confusion, and caused them to 
retreat precipitately. They reformed, and on foot made a rush 
for the bridge, only to meet with a second repulse. They now 
made a wide detour around Dibrell's position, which caused him to 

236 



HIS MOVEMENTS EAGERLY WATCHED 

retire to Blue Spring Creek, one mile to the rear. There he took 
another strong position ; but Minty had had enough, and with- 
drew. Colonel Dibrell reports a loss of four wounded and capt- 
ured. He found twelve dead Union troopers on the field, and 
twenty dead horses. Colonel Minty reports: " Our loss, I regret 
to say, was heavy." 

The presence of Dibrell so far north as Sparta, and of Forrest's 
cavalry, now in east Tennessee, where a portion of his command 
were ordered in the vicinity of Kingston, was sufficient to excite 
the apprehension of Major-General George L. Hartsuff, who, on 
July 2ist, from Cincinnati, Ohio, telegraphed General Rosecrans 
in regard to the looked-for invasion of Kentucky from east Ten- 
nessee, as follows : " How much cavalry can Forrest raise? Where 
is he now ? And where will he cross the Cumberland ?" Even 
in far-away Cincinnati the daring raider was deemed a possibility. 

Affairs, however, were rapidly shaping themselves which were 
destined to preclude ^1 notion of invasion of this section of the 
Union by the Southern troops. Rosecrans, with great boldness, 
was pushing steadily ahead, and Bragg was on the defensive. The 
month of August was passed in inactivity on the part of the 
Southern general, while his enemy was displaying the greatest 
energy. On the 27th of this month the Federals began the pas- 
sage of the Tennessee River at Caperton's Ferry, and by the 4th 
of September the greater portion of his army was on the southern 
bank. Threatened by a flank movement, Bragg gave up Chatta- 
nooga and retired to Dalton and Lafayette in Georgia, where he 
rapidly concentrated his troops, calling in with the rest the cav- 
alry under Forrest in east Tennessee. Every movement of For- 
rest's was closely watched and quickly made the subject of com- 
munication to the commander of the Union army. On August 
31st, James A. Garfield, chief of staff, was inquiring by telegraph 
of General Crittenden at Dunlap : " What have you from For- 
rest?" General Burnside, on the 2d, telegraphed to Rosecrans: 
" General Forrest crossed the Tennessee at this place. He was 
heard to say that he was ordered to Dalton." Rosecrans immedi- 
ately reported this news to General-in-Chief Halleck, at Washing- 
ton. The official despatches of this period are replete with the 
strongest evidence of the appreciation by the Federal leaders of 
Forrest's great activity. On the 2d of September there were " in- 

237 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

dications that Forrest intended attacking our train." On the 6th, 
General W. B. Hazen was " anxious about a raid in his rear by 
Forrest "; and Colonel Minty was notified that " indications point- 
ed to a raid by Forrest to cross the Tennessee River above Harri- 
son." On the 7th, General Wagner sent word to Rosecrans that 
" Forrest had gone in the direction of Rome," and in this last report 
there was something of truth. Forrest had been ordered to march 
in the direction of Alpine and Rome to head off a large force 
of cavalry under Stanley, upon whom it would seem the mantle 
of Colonel Abel D. Streight was about to fall. Rosecrans could 
not be cured of his longing for a break in Bragg's great feeder, 
the railroad from Atlanta to Dalton and Chattanooga. If Stan- 
ley or Wilder, or some bold cavalryman, could dash in and burn 
the bridge over the Etowah, or do anything to give Bragg a still 
greater scare than he had, he might get him still farther into 
Georgia without a battle. Stanley was ready to try, although he 
started out with misgivings. Chief of staff and future President 
Garfield, who was at Trenton, Georgia, with Rosecrans, took a 
more rosy view of the matter. On the 7th of September he 
wrote Stanley a very encouraging epistle : " The general com- 
manding thinks it practicable for you to make a successful expe- 
dition against the enemy's line of communication. Considering 
the relative strength of the enemy's cavalry and our own, and 
the additional fact that Forrest's whole force and nearly all of 
Wheeler's are in the neighborhood of Chattanooga, and cannot be 
brought to bear against you, he has the more confidence in your 
ability to succeed in the expedition. General McCook has been 
directed to hold the pass to cover your return, and to send two 
brigades as far as Alpine to aid in securing your route and form- 
ing a support. The general commanding directs you to push for- 
ward rapidly and with audacity. The severing of the enemy's 
railroad communication with Atlanta will be most disastrous to 
him." 

With the general of cavalry it was not possible to consider the 
undertaking as so easy of accomplishment as outlined by the 
chief of staff. He wrote Garfield that he did not have troops, 
enough — only thirteen small regiments; he wanted Minty and his 
whole command, and, in addition, that General Wilder should 
strike at the Chattanooga end of the line and make a diversion. 

238 



GARFIELD'S INFORMATION BUREAU 

Stanley was correct and Garfield was mistaken. The latter was a 
better politician than soldier. Forrest was not at Chattanooga. 
He came as near being in both places at once as mortal man ever 
did. Stanley, backed by McCook's infantry and by the diversion 
under Wilder on Bragg's right flank near Ringgold and Tunnel 
Hill, did start. Sweeping down Wills Valley between Sand Moun- 
tain on the west and bold Lookout on the east, and then across 
the latter, he descended into the valley " like the stream from 
the rock." He reached Alpine and Summerville, near the foot 
of the mountain, stirred up a hornet's nest, and, like the king 
of France, went back up the mountain. His thirteen small regi- 
ments looked smaller the farther he got away from McCook's in- 
fantry. He found Wheeler, Martin, Wharton, and Forrest all 
there in front of him. He voted Garfield's information bureau 
unreliable, and promptly retraced his steps. It was an exceedingly 
wise move on the part of Stanley. On September 6th, Forrest 
was at Ringgold, but, having heard of Stanley's movement, by the 
morning of the 8th he was at Alpine. General Wharton was di- 
rected to reinforce him " with three hundred picked men for a 
reconnaissance " to develop the enemy (Stanley and McCook), 
and on this date Forrest wrote to Wheeler : " Have arrived at 
Gowers. If I hear nothing of the enemy to-day, I shall cross the 
mountain and get in their front. If the enemy do not advance 
on us lue must move on them." 

The mystery of Garfield's error in locating Forrest is solved in 
the ofificial records. On September 7th, Colonel R. K. Byrd, at 
Kingston, in east Tennessee, telegraphed Colonel Minty : "One 
of Forrest's body-guard came in (deserted) yesterday, and informs 
me that Forrest is at Philadelphia (in east Tennessee) with three 
brigades and thirteen pieces of artillery." Forrest's escort were 
picked men, selected for their devotion to him and their fearless- 
ness, and were always " coming in " to give themselves up, with 
such "untruthful" reports. It was part of their war-trade, and 
one of the methods employed by Forrest for obtaining informa- 
tion and of deceiving the enemy. Minty rushed to the telegraph 
and sent this news to Rosecrans and Garfield, and the latter 
cheered Stanley with such encouraging intelligence as the far- 
away absence of Forrest. 

On September 3d the division of cavalry under Brigadier-Gen- 

239 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

eral John Pegram had been added to Forrest's command, and when 
the latter moved to Alpine to aid in forcing Stanley back this 
division was left to guard the right wing of Bragg's army. As 
soon as Forrest's reconnaissance demonstrated that the Union 
cavalryman had given up all idea of striking at the railroad, he 
hastened back to the neighborhood of Ringgold with the troops 
he had brought hither. Arriving there on the loth, Forrest dis- 
covered that two divisions of Crittenden's corps had crossed the 
Chickamauga Creek at Red House bridge, and were practically 
isolated from the other portions of Rosecrans's army. Seeing at 
once the possibility of capture or destruction of these troops, he 
informed General Bragg of the situation, and proposed to throw 
his troops at once in their rear. Before any reply or orders could 
be received from Bragg, Crittenden, who did not seem to appreci- 
ate the peril of his situation, continued to advance farther in the 
direction of Tunnel Hill. Forrest placed his cavalry across his 
line of march, resisting stubbornly from every point of vantage 
in the effort to retard his progress until help could arrive. Crit- 
tenden's heavy column of infantry gradually forced him back until 
finally a strong position was found at Tunnel Hill, and here, after 
a hard struggle, the Union troops gave up and retreated towards 
Chickamauga. General Forrest received another wound in this 
affair, which, however, did not compel him to relinquish the com- 
mand. It compelled him, nevertheless, to do something which 
was much against his principles — -namely, to take a drink of whis- 
key. Having become faint with pain and loss of blood, he did so 
at the urgent order of his surgeon. Major Charles W. Anderson, 
of his staff, says he never knew him to taste liquor unless he was 
sick or wounded. General Pegram won great and well-deserved 
credit on this occasion for the desperate fighting done by his di- 
vision. 

Probably no general ever missed so many opportunities to 
destroy the army of his antagonist as did General Bragg in 
this month of September, 1863. The escape of Crittenden from 
his perilous position was the second strategic fiasco that For- 
rest had witnessed within a fortnight. When Burnside came 
down out of eastern Kentucky into Tennessee, near Knoxville, he 
was isolated and hopelessly cut off from all chance of support. 
The army of Bragg was concentrated, had the inside track or 

240 



FAILURE OF BRAGG'S STRATEGY 

" interior line," and had nothing to do but to move rapidly and 
overwhelm him before he could either retreat or receive assistance. 
Forrest was heart and soul in favor of the movement, and did all 
he could to induce the commander-in-chief to undertake it. 
Buckner's corps was at hand, and D. H. Hill was there. There 
were Confederates enough and available to have annihilated tliis 
corps. General Bragg, instead of taking hold vigorously in per- 
son and forcing the movement, wrote to Hill: "The crushing of 
this corps would give us a great victory and redeem Tennessee. 
By selecting fords, Forrest promises to cross the infantry on 
horseback." That was the end of it. Burnside was not within 
five days' march of aid. Crittenden, who could have been sur- 
rounded in twenty-four hours with three times his number, could 
not have received assistance within three days ; while McCook's 
corps, at or near Alpine, was nearly forty miles from Crittenden, 
and itself isolated and open to destruction. And yet the Confed- 
erate general, able enough to see these grand opportunities, failed to 
take hold personally and force them to a successful result. On each 
occasion he seemed content to trust the fate of his army and the 
cause for which he earnestly fought to subordinates who accom- 
plished nothing. Failure upon failure followed in quick succes- 
sion. Burnside remained unmolested ; Crittenden, McCook, and 
Thomas in turn escaped. Rosecrans effected his concentration, 
and then, as a fitting climax to this tragedy of blunders, he 
forced the army of Bragg to attack him on ground of his own 
selection. 

As Crittenden on the nth retired with his corps across the 
Chickamauga and up the west bank of this creek towards Lee 
and Gordon's Mill, Wilder's brigade of mounted infantry was 
employed in protecting his flank nearest to Chattanooga. On 
the 1 2th, Pegram, with his Sixth Georgia Cavalry and Rucker's 
Legion, at Leet's Tan-yard came in contact with Colonel Wilder's 
command, and a desperate encounter followed. The Confederates 
were overmatched in numbers and in arms (for the enemy had 
repeating-rifles), but held their ground with such determination 
that the Federal movement was checked. General Pegram re- 
ports: " For a time the fight was almost literally hand to hand. 
My loss was about fifty killed and wounded." The records show 
that on this same day another of Forrest's escort deserted and 
Q 241 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

came into the Union camp,* He reported that " Forrest had 
gone towards Lafayette yesterday. Fighting was going on from 
noon of the nth until dark, at Lee and Gordon's Mill," etc. 
Nevertheless, Forrest was at that time at Tunnel Hill, watching 
Wilder. There was no fighting at Lee and Gordon's Mill, nor 
was there any intention of accuracy in this statement. The rec- 
ord does not show when the deserter got back to Forrest with 
the information he was seeking. There was not a general in the 
Confederacy who had a more thorough and reliable system of 
scouts than Forrest, and much of his success may be traced to the 
cunning displayed in this direction. 

By September nth it began to dawn on Rosecrans that the 
Confederates were at last tired of running, and were about to 
turn on him for a fight. The chase after Bragg from Tullahoma 
across the Tennessee had been little more than a summer excur- 
sion. He had so little respect for the Southern general that he 
scattered his troops all over the country, with slight regard to 
any possible necessity for rapid concentration. The occurrence 
that opened the eyes of Rosecrans was this : Generals Negley 
and Baird, who had crossed Lookout Mountain and descended 
the eastern slope through Stevens's Gap into McLemore's Cove, 
found themselves on this day confronted by a strong force of 
Confederates, which advanced upon them in such threatening 
fashion that they rapidly reclimbed Lookout and ran away. The 
effort to cut them off and capture them was a badly bungled job. 
Any student of the art of war, desiring to learn how badly a 
bit of strategy may be spoiled, is referred to the official records 
of this affair. On this same nth of September, Forrest, at 
Tunnel Hill, had hammered away at Crittenden so vigorously 
that this officer also discovered that " the better part of valor 
was discretion," and retired towards Chattanooga. The Federal 
general began at last to display considerable anxiety, and to con- 
centrate his scattered legions. As the hot and dusty days slipped ^ 
by, his anxiety increased, for he heard that Longstreet was com- 
ing, and, indeed, was near at hand. On the i6th he despatched! 
to Burnside, who was in the vicinity of Knoxville : " The enemy| 
intend us all the mischief in their power. It is of the utmost im^ 

* Official Records, vol. xxx. part ill. p. 563. 
242 



ROSECRANS ALARMED 

portance that you close down this way to cover our left flank. 
We have not the force to cover our flank against Forrest now. 
He could cross the river above us before we could discover it. I 
want all the help we can get promptly."* 

* Official Records, vol. xxx. part iii. p. 691. 



CHAPTER XI 

THE BATTLE OF CHICKAMAUGA 

General Forrest Opens the Battle of Chickamauga on the Afternoon of Friday, Sep- 
tember i8, 1863— Engages the Enemy on Saturday Morning — Hot Work Through- 
out the Day — The Artillery in Danger — General Ector Uneasy about His Right 
Flank— Major Anderson Prevails upon the General not to Shoot a Frightened Sol- 
dier Who is Running from the Field — Throughout the Day, on Sunday, Forrest's 
Cavalry Fights in Line of Battle with the Infantry— General D. H. Hill Compli- 
ments the Cavalry — Forrest Heads Granger Off, and Holds the Reserve-Corps of 
the Army of Tennessee in Check over an Hour — Fires the Closing, as He Did 
the Opening, Gun of this Great Battle — Reconnaissance on Missionary Ridge on 
the 2 1st — The Famous Despatch — General Longstreet says " This Despatch Sealed 
the Fate of the Confederacy " — Relieved from Command by Order of General Bragg, 
Forrest Scores the General of the Army — President Davis Invites General Forrest 
to a Personal Conference at Montgomery, as the Result of which He is Assigned 
to an Independent Command in the West. 

THE battle of Chickamauga opened on Friday, September 18, 
1863. In this terrible struggle, one of the bloodiest in 
history, the Southern cavalry acquitted itself with great 
credit. It was not beaten on any portion of the field during the 
three days of the engagement, and fought successfully the retreating 
army on Monday, after the main battle ended, making additional 
captures of men and wagons. General Joseph Wheeler command- 
ed all the mounted forces on the left wing, and confined his ope- 
rations exclusively to this portion of the field, leaving Forrest in 
full sway on the right flank. Practically all the cavalry on the 
southern side fought at Chickamauga on foot and in line with the 
infantry. On the left, Wheeler defeated the Union cavalry at 
Glass's Mill, drove them for nearly two miles to Crawfish Spring, 
and finally, on Sunday afternoon, September 20th, formed the ex- 
treme left of the Confederate infantry line of battle, sweeping the 
field from Lee and Gordon's Mill back to the rear of Thomas's 
position, until darkness put an end to the pursuit. On the right 
it may be said that Forrest struck the first and the last blow — 

244 



PREPARING FOR BATTLE OF CHICKAMAUGA 

firing the opening and the final shots in this engagement. He ac- 
quitted himself with such distinction as to attract the general 
attention of the Southern people, and once more to win a special 
vote of thanks from the Congress of the Confederate States. 

On the i8th of September, Brigadier-General Bushrod R. John- 
son, commanding a division composed of his own, McNair's, Gregg's, 
and Robertson's brigades, was directed to advance from Ringgold 
to the Chickamauga Creek, cross at Reed's Bridge, and march, pre- 
pared for a collision with the enemy, from that point up the creek 
in the direction of Lee and Gordon's Mill. This force at this mo- 
ment was the right of the Confederate infantry line, and with it, 
and on its right flank nearest to Rosecrans's base at Chattanooga, 
Forrest's cavalry were moving. In touch with Johnson and to 
his left, a division of the Confederate reserve corps, under Major- 
General William H. T. Walker, was directed to proceed by a par- 
allel route and cross the creek at Alexander's Bridge, or, if too 
strongly resisted there, to wade this stream at Byram's Ford, about 
one mile farther up the creek from the bridge. Next in order 
was the division of Major-General S. B. Buckner, which in like 
manner had orders to advance and effect a crossing at Thedford's 
Ford, still farther away, in the direction of Lee and Gordon's Mill. 
On September 9th, when Forrest had reached Dalton, Georgia, he 
had despatched the brigade, under Colonel Hodge, to watch the 
Cleveland and Dalton road. Colonel Scott's brigade was stationed 
on the route from Ringgold to Chattanooga. Pegram's division 
was at Pea-Vine Church. Armstrong, with his division, was in 
front of Cheatham's infantry, along the Lafayette and Chatta- 
nooga road ; while Forrest, with his escort and about two hun- 
dred and forty men (a remnant of General John H. Morgan's 
cavalry which had not been swallowed up in the wild Ohio raid), 
was stationed at Dalton. As Johnson approached Reed's Bridge, 
about noon of Friday, September i8th, Forrest went to the front, 
having with him his escort and Morgan's remnant — three hundred 
men in all. Off to the right, as Johnson advanced, Pegram's divis- 
ion was moving, to keep an eye on any Union forces which might 
be near enough to interfere with the Southern infantry. When 
General Johnson arrived within one mile of the enemy's position, 
near Reed's Bridge, over which the Federals had already crossed, 
he threw his troops into line of battle. He reports: "While form- 

245 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

ing the line, Brigadier-General Forrest joined with his escort, pro- 
ceeded to the front to develop the position of the enemy, and was 
soon skirmishing with them." It must have seemed like old times 
to Johnson and Forrest to be side by side again as they had stood 
in loyal and brave support of each other on that bitter cold Sat- 
urday in February, 1862, when they shattered Grant's right wing 
at Fort Donelson. Had every one on that field done their work 
as well as Forrest and Johnson, and brave, loyal, and unjustly 
treated Gideon J. Pillow, it might not have been necessary to shed 
the river of blood which the Chickamauga, within the next three 
days, was to carry away on its tinted current and pour into the 
beautiful Tennessee. There, as now, Forrest had opened the ball. 
From Pea -Vine Creek, where the skirmishing commenced, the 
Federals were driven back by Johnson and Forrest, but not with- 
out creditable resistance. At Reed's Bridge they made a final 
and more stubborn stand, as the Confederates crowded them with 
artillery, and then charged with infantry and cavalry, driving them 
away so precipitately that they did not take time to burn the 
bridge. The entire force now moved across the Chickamauga, 
and, being joined by Pegram's division, marched up the creek tow- 
ards Alexander's Bridge. 

About 4 P. M., Major-General John B. Hood arrived and took 
command of all the troops on this part of the field. The infantry 
slept in line of battle that night about eight hundred yards from 
the Vineyard House, and near the little log school-house, on the 
highway from Lee and Gordon's Mill to Chattanooga. Forrest 
scouted and picketed the country a mile to the right of this posi- 
tion, and went into bivouac with the main body of his troops in the 
rear of Hood's line, near Alexander's Bridge. The Federal forces 
encountered here were a brigade of cavalry under Colonel Minty. 
Very early on the 19th General Forrest was ordered to move with 
his command to the Confederate right, in the direction of Reed's 
Bridge and Chattanooga, and to develop the enemy. Advancing 
promptly with Pegram's division near the bridge, he was soon 
engaged with the Union troops in such strength that help was 
needed. Forrest sent a courier to the infantry with the message 
that he had raised a hornet's nest, and could not hold on long un- 
less reinforcements were sent to him. It was evident to him now 
that the Federal commander had outwitted General Bragg. While 

246 



I 



BATTLE OF CHICKAMAUGA 

the latter was marching his troops from the neighborhood of 
Reed's Bridge up the Chickamauga, all that same night Rosecrans 
was sliding his long line of battle in the opposite direction to get 
nearer to Chattanooga, so that in case of disaster his antagonist 
could not get in between him and that place of refuge. Wise 
Rosecrans; for here now, a mile at least to the right of this flank of 
the Southern infantry, was a large force and a long line of Union 
troops. D. H. Hill, who passed up that way, says: "I found 
that while our troops had been moving up the Chickamauga, the 
Yankees had been moving down, and thus outflanked us."* As 
no reinforcements came. General Forrest sent Major Anderson, of 
his staff, to General Polk, asking him to give him Armstrong's divis- 
ion. Polk, needing half of this cavalry for his portion of the line, 
answered with the other half, sending General Dibrell's brigade, 
which double-quicked and, with the faithfulness and celerity of this 
gallant soldier, was in short order dismounted and in the thickest 
of the fray. As no satisfactory answer had come to Forrest's re- 
peated messages for the infantry line to be moved in his direction, 
he now instructed Pegram to hold what he had, " no matter what 
might happen," until he could go for help and return with it. 
Pegram promised to do it, and did it well, though at terrific cost. 
From behind trees and logs, and every possible point of vantage, 
these cavalrymen on foot fought with the stubbornness and pre- 
cision of infantry. They held on like grim death, and grim death 
held on to many of them. One-fourth of their number went 
down then and there, although Forrest hurried back and brought 
the foot-soldiers with him. Pegram says : " It became apparent 
that we were fighting overpowering numbers. General Forrest 
having sent several messengers for the infantry to come up, 
finally went for them himself, ordering me to hold the position 
until their arrival. In obeying this order our loss was about 
one-fourth of the command." 

The brigades of Colonel Claudius C. Wilson and General Edward 
C. Walthall coming up at Forrest's request, took their place in 
line immediately on his left and moved forward. They were 
not going to yield the palm to Forrest and Pegram's horsemen. 
These veterans of other bloody fields moved forward rapidly and 

* Official Records, vol. xxx. part ii. p. 140. 
247 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

with directness to close range before they delivered their well- 
aimed volleys into the Union line, which yielded under the press- 
ure, and was pursued by all. Forrest was elated over the con- 
duct of Wilson's men. "They advanced in gallant style, driving 
the enemy back and capturing a battery of artillery, my dismount- 
ed cavalry advancing with them." He was in command of all the 
troops now at this end of the line, and pushed forward, and with 
Wilson drove back the second Federal line of battle, following 
this until a third line, behind well-constructed defences, was de- 
veloped. Colonel Wilson was now ordered by General Forrest 
not to attempt to carry this position until more troops could be 
brought up. At this moment the brigade of General Matthew 
D. Ector appeared on the field, having orders to report to For- 
rest, who placed it on the right of Wilson, the dismounted caval- 
ry being pushed still farther over on Ector's right flank. Mean- 
while the Union lines had been reinforced, and now felt themselves 
strong enough to take their turn as the aggressors. Before For- 
rest could get Ector's men in place and ready for a general as- 
sault, a heavy column of Federals had advanced well beyond 
Wilson's left flank, overlapping him and opening a severe enfilad- 
ing fire, which forced this brave officer to retire his brigade, in 
doing which Forrest's entire line was carried back. The horses 
in the captured battery had been killed, and, though the Con- 
federates tried to roll them off by hand, they could not succeed, 
and these guns again fell into the hands of their former owners. 
Morton's and Huggins's batteries had done excellent work, and, 
as was Forrest's practice, their pieces were shoved to the front al- 
most up to shot-gun range. As they retired, the thick woods and, 
in places, the dense undergrowth made it no easy matter to 
bring away their artillery, as the plucky Federals were coming on 
in steady lines and with fixed bayonets. The general held his 
troops steadily at work as they gave back. There was no break 
to the rear, but from tree to tree and from behind every point 
of shelter these trained woodsmen, making plucky resistance, 
loaded and fired their guns with deadly effect. The horses of one 
of Captain Huggins's pieces, in charge of Lieutenant Edwin H. 
Douglas, were all killed or wounded. Douglas told Forrest that 
he would have to leave the gun unless he could get help to pull 
it out. Alive to the urgency of the situation, and quick in ex- 

248 



A CHARACTERISTIC INCIDENT 

pedient, the general called to four of his escort who were mount- 
ed and near by, and, quickly throwing the collars and hames 
over the troopers' saddled horses, the traces were attached, 
and away rode the cavalrymen, dragging the precious gun to 
safety. 

The men fell back in good order, the Federals not following be- 
yond their original position. Just at this minute, Major-General 
W. H. T. Walker came up and took command of his infantry. 
The fighting here had lasted from early in the morning to 1.30 
P.M. Cheatham's division came on the field to relieve them, and 
with Cleburne succeeded after a terrific struggle in driving the 
Federals from their entire line, and slept on their arms that night, 
masters of the bloody field. General Walker paid a high and well- 
earned compliment to the fighting qualities of the men under 
Forrest in this hot and sanguinary morning's work. " The unequal 
contest of four brigades against such overwhelming odds is un- 
paralleled in this revolution, and the troops deserve immortal 
honor for the part borne in the action." In the hottest of the 
fight, General Forrest's horse, presented to him by the citizens of 
Rome, in token of their appreciation of his capture of Streight, 
was mortally wounded. As the troops were retiring, here also 
occurred an incident which will throw light upon two of this 
man's characteristics. Major Anderson was with the general in 
the rear of the Hne, up and down which he was galloping, encour- 
aging his men to stand to their work, and ready to threaten, 
or do more than threaten, any who dared to give back too 
rapidly. At one moment of this trying time, a private soldier, 
having parted company with his courage, cut loose from his place 
in front and broke at top speed for the rear. He unfortunately ran 
very near to the general and his aide. Forrest whipped out his 
six-shooter, ordered the man to halt, and was in the act of making 
an-example of him when Major Anderson exclaimed, " Oh, gen- 
eral, think"; the general did think, and, lowering his pistol, let 
the unhappy mortal go in peace. In relating this incident the 
faithful aide-de-camp remarked : " I knew him and his moods so 
well that I had learned just how to take him. I am confident 
that, in the excitement of the moment, knowing the supreme dis- 
regard he felt for life — even his own, when the fate of battle 
hung in the balance — had I said, 'General Forrest, don't do 

249 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

that !' he would have killed the man without a doubt, and I 
might have gotten a turn too." 

Ex-Congressman, and later United States District Judge, C. B. 
Kilgore, related to the writer the following, which occurred on 
this portion of the field: "On Friday night, September i8, 1863, 
Ector's brigade, of which I was adjutant, crossed Chickamauga 
Creek, and on Saturday morning, the 19th, formed on the extreme 
Confederate right, supporting General Forrest's cavalry, which 
was very heavily engaged. The fighting soon became fierce for 
us, and we were barely able to hold our ground. General Ector 
became uneasy in regard to the protection of his right flank, and 
asked me to go to General Forrest and urge him to be very vigi- 
lant in his protection of it. I galloped up to where one of his 
batteries was engaged, as I had been told he was there. He had 
on a linen duster, with a sword and pistol on the outside of the 
duster, and was exposed to very heavy fire of infantry and now 
and then a shot from the enemy's batteries. I said : ' General 
Forrest, General Ector directed me to say to you that he is un- 
easy in regard to his right flank.' He replied : ' Tell General 
Ector that he need not bother about his right flank, I'll take care 
of it.' I reported to my commander, and about an hour later 
news reached us that Wilson's brigade had been hard hit and 
driven back, and General Ector sent me again to Forrest to tell 
him that he was now uneasy about his left flank. I found him 
near the same spot, right in the thickest part of the fight, the 
battery blazing away and every man fighting like mad. I told 
him what General Ector had directed me to say, and this time he 
got furious. He turned around on me and shouted, loud enough 
to be heard above the terrible din that was in the air : ' Tell 
General Ector that, by God, I am here, and will take care of 
his left flank as well as his right.' It is hardly necessary to add 
that we were not outflanked on either side." 

Saturday night General Frank C. Armstrong arrived with his 
second brigade, and took command of his division, which, with 
Pegram's, were thrown out to the extreme right, guarding that 
flank, contiguous to the Reed's Bridge road. During the night 
of Saturday, the 20th, a general readjustment of the opposing 
Hnes of battle was made. The struggle of the 19th, severe and 
bloody as it was, had never become general. The firing had at 

250 



BATTLE OF CHICKAMAUGA 

no time swept continuous down the lines. The advantage was 
decidedly with the Confederates, who held all the ground upon 
which the contest had opened, and more, Rosecrans's anxiety 
about his left wing and the path to the rear and Chattanooga had 
greatly increased. By an all-night march Thomas's corps, heavily 
reinforced, was placed at his left, and all through this night and 
during the early morning the axes were ringing along the five 
or six miles of battle-front, trees were crashing to the ground, 
and the busy picks were playing a tattoo on the earth as the 
Union beavers toiled to strengthen their position. They had 
been beaten on Saturday, and they knew the morrow would re- 
quire all that art and skill and courage could do to hold the 
Southerners back. 

At daybreak on Sunday morning General Forrest and his cav- 
alry found themselves in line with the division of Major-General 
John C. Breckinridge, which, a little after daylight, reached Cle- 
burne's right, and now became the extreme right of the Confed- 
erate infantry. Still to the right of these, in line of battle at dawn 
of day, were Forrest's troopers. Generar Bragg had given explicit 
directions as to the hour of battle. In his official report he says : 
"Lieutenant-General Polk was ordered to assail the enemy on our 
extreme right at daydawn on the 20th." Daylight came ; the 
troops were there, but the attack was not made. Polk's order to 
Hill was not delivered. The courier could not find General 
Hill in time. Breckinridge says : " Soon after sunrise I received 
a note from Lieutenant-General Polk, directing me to advance. 
Cleburne received the same order at this time." * Breckinridge 
adds: "Lieutenant-General Hill having arrived, the notes were 
placed in his hands. By his order the movement was delayed for 
the troops to get their rations, and on other accounts." The 
whole army was waiting for the sound of cannon and musketry 
from Polk and Breckinridge and Hill. It did not come until 
9.30, and these three hours of priceless daylight were gone for- 
ever. 

Breckinridge, advancing at 9.30, soon came in contact with the 
Federals, and was fully engaged by ten o'clock. As his troops 
moved forward, Forrest also moved, a continuation of the infantry 

* Official Records, vof. xxx. part ii. p. 198. 
251 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

line. Armstrong's division, with the exception of the First Ten- 
nessee regiment and McDonald's battaHon, was dismounted and 
sent in well on the right. Pegram's division, having already suf- 
fered extremely, was at this time held in reserve, while the two 
mounted detachments were kept out on the flank. Breckinridge 
had met with determined resistance. The enemy was strongly 
intrenched, and it seemed almost impossible to dislodge them. 
Time and again his gallant troops assailed the works, only to be 
driven back with terrific slaughter. In those two desperate hours 
men perished by hundreds. The Kentuckians gave up their lives 
in reckless fashion, and, without a peer among these gallant spirits, 
General Ben Hardin Helm passed in the twinkling of an eye from 
the storm of battle 

"To where beyond these voices there is peace." 

Armstrong and Forrest moved over to the right, and, reaching 
a little beyond the Union intrenchments, found open going, and 
pushed well beyond the alignment of the infantry. It was glo- 
rious work for the cavalry. General D. H. Hill, just from the 
mighty battle scenes of the army of northern Virginia, riding with 
his staff to this quarter, and seeing these men sweeping in steady 
line around the Union left, asked Major (^harles W. Anderson, 
" What infantry is that ?" " That is Forrest's cavalry," he replied. 
General Hill looked at him with an expression of surprise, if not 
of incredulity, and said, "Can I see General Forrest?" "Yes; he 
is there with his men. I will take you to him." As they ap- 
proached, Forrest rode back to meet them. His artillery had 
just been advanced to the open field in front of Cloud's Spring, 
and Huggins, Morton, and gallant Captain Gracey (whose guns 
had been borrowed for this urgent occasion) were hurrying into 
this advanced position. As Forrest approached. General Hill, 
raising his hat in salutation, said : " General Forrest, I wish to con- 
gratulate you and those brave men moving across that field like 
veteran infantry upon their magnificent behavior. In Virginia I 
made myself extremely unpopular with the cavalry because I 
said that so far I had not seen a dead man with spurs on. No 
one can speak disparagingly of such troops as yours." Forrest, 
concealing whatever of pride or elation he felt at this high com- 
pliment to himself and his troops, simply said : " Thank you, Gen- 

252 



BATTLE OF CHICKAMAUGA 

eral," waved his hand, wheeled his horse, and galloped away to 
his favorite position by Morton's battery. 

Well may General Breckinridge report that " this was one of 
the bloodiest encounters of the day." The threatening position 
of Forrest's men, reinforced by Adams's and Stoval's brigades of 
Breckinridge's division, gave General Thomas so much concern 
that he called loudly for help, and Rosecrans materially and fa- 
tally weakened his line farther towards the (Union) right. At this 
moment Granger's corps came on the scene at double-quick from 
the direction of Rossville. Forrest's vigilant scouts had wind of 
their coming, and informed their leader of Granger's advance. The 
cavalryman sent quickly to Breckinridge for more artillery, and 
this was why Gracey with his Napoleons was charging out with 
Morton and Huggins. As Gordon Granger came in sight with 
the reserve corps of the Army of the Tennessee, Forrest's three 
batteries opened on the head of his column with such vigor and 
precision that his rapid march towards Thomas was arrested, and 
he was compelled to throw himself into line of battle and fight 
his way through. Forrest now held the Lafayette road, the 
Federal camps and hospitals, and a number of prisoners. For 
more than an hour Granger's march was here retarded. Then 
Thomas sent help over to him, and, thus reinforced, charging 
down the road from the direction of Chattanooga, Granger com- 
pelled this portion of the Confederate line to retire, though for 
not more than two hundred yards. Here Forrest held on stub- 
bornly, forcing Granger to make a considerable detour to reach 
his destination. He says : " As Granger approached, by shelling 
his command and manoeuvring my troops he was detained near- 
ly two hours and prevented from joining the main force until late 
in the evening, and then at a double-quick, under a heavy fire 
from Freeman's battery and a section of Napoleon guns bor- 
rowed from General Breckinridge." 

After Granger had effected a junction with Thomas, Forrest 
again advanced to the Lafayette road. Another bold charge by 
the plucky defenders of this portion of the Union line drove his 
troops and the infantry again back, until now, as the sun was 
about to set on one of the bloodiest fields in history, Breckin- 
ridge's line was only six hundred yards in advance of the position 
where it had opened its fire at ten o'clock in the forenoon. These 

253 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B, FORREST 

brave fighters had not made much headway in ground wrested 
from their equally gallant antagonists ; but they had so hammered 
Thomas that Rosecrans was compelled to strip other portions of 
his line, giving Longstreet an opening on the Confederate left, 
an advantage which this brilliant fighter did not fail to take. It 
so happened that the weak point in the Union line was in front of 
one of the bravest and most skilful division commanders in Bragg's 
army, and it was thus that Stewart threw forward his sturdy Ten- 
nesseeans and cut their line in twain. Longstreet followed this 
up by hurrying the troops under Preston, Buckner, Hindman, and 
Johnson immediately to the support of Stewart, and these, rush- 
ing forward at this propitious moment with irresistible force, 
knocked the right wing and centre of Rosecrans's line of battle to 
pieces. On this part of the field the Federals melted away, a dis- 
organized and beaten mass, and within a few minutes were in wild 
flight in the direction of Chattanooga. Carried away with this 
flying mob were the commander-in-chief of the army, two corps 
commanders, and with them the Assistant Secretary of War, all 
in the ruck, and never halting until they reached Chattanooga, ten 
miles from the battle-field. Night alone saved this army from 
annihilation. 

While all this was transpiring on the Federal right and centre, 
Cleburne and Breckinridge, whose troops had rested for an hour 
and replenished their ammunition, once more advanced for a des- 
perate effort to break through on the Union left where Thomas 
was. This time nothing could withstand the impetuosity of their 
assault. Thomas's centre gave way to Cleburne's onslaught, and 
his left yielded to Breckinridge and Forrest. So quickly was this 
work done that several hundred of the Union troops could not 
get away, and threw down their arms and surrendered. The whole 
Federal army now on the field withdrew inside of Thomas's horse- 
shoe defences on Snodgrass Hill, beaten, but still under the lead- 
ership of this indomitable soldier, presenting still a fighting front. Bj 
The Confederates had followed after them until now night had 
settled down, and the tired and hungry Southerners sank upon 
the ground for rest and sleep. Not so with the Federals, who 
were retreating for the greater part of the night in the direction 
of Chattanooga. Forrest says of this final assault that he em- 
ployed " fourteen pieces of artillery, terminating on the right 

254 



BATTLE OF CHICKAMAUGA 

flank the battle of Chickamauga. My command was kept on 
the field during the night of the 20th, and men and horses suf- 
fered greatly for want of water. The men were without rations, 
and the horses had only received a partial feed once during the 
two days' engagement." 

It may be said without contradiction that on no field of the 
war did cavalry ever do such persistent and ef^cient fighting as 
was done by Forrest's command at Chickamauga. In the South- 
ern army he became more popular than ever, and with the people 
at large he had already become one of the most romantic figures 
of the war. 

General Daniel H. Hill, who was immediately with Forrest on 
the 19th and 20th, says, in mentioning the advance of Granger : 
" That ever-watchful ofificer. General Forrest, reported to me soon 
after that a heavy Yankee column was coming from the direction 
of Chattanooga. His active scouts soon brought in some prison- 
ers. His artillery opened upon it, and a portion of it went to the 
left of the corps, and, advancing upon Cleburne, was met with a 
storm of shot and shell and driven back in confusion. General 
Forrest agreed to move forward and seize the Chattanooga road. 
The left wing was driving the Yankees everywhere. Forrest was 
thundering on the right." He closes by saying : " No eulogy of 
mine could add to the reputation of General Forrest and his sol- 
diers, who, though not under my command, most heartily co-oper- 
ated and rendered the most valuable service. I would ask no 
better fortune, if again placed on a flank, than to have such a vigi- 
lant, gallant, and accomplished ofificer guarding its approaches." 

Speaking of this attack, the author of the Life of General 
George H. Thomas, says (p. 395) : " Forrest's men had passed 
beyond Van Derveer's left, and formed for assault on his front, 
and also directly on his flank. But the vigilant skirmishers 
and prisoners taken by them made known the movement. The 
left was thrown back in time, and the line presented an ob- 
tuse angle opening towards the enemy. Into this, and heavily 
against the left of it, Forrest hurled his columns, four deep. Oji 
came these men in gray in magnificent lines, which showed clear- 
ly through the open forest, bending their faces before the sleet 
of the storm, and firing hotly as they advanced. As they came 
within the range of the oblique fire from Van Derveer's right they 

2SS 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

halted within forty yards of his left, and for a few moments poured 
in a destructive fire. A wheel of Smith's regular battery, and of 
a section of Church's guns, which had reported, brought them 
where they poured a nearly enfilading fire of canister down those 
long lines, standing bravely there and fighting almost under the 
mouths of the guns. 

General Bragg, on December 28th, wrote his report of this 
battle, and the meed of praise measured out to Forrest and his 
men occupied only a line and a half: "Brigadier -General For- 
rest's report will show equally gallant and valuable services by 
his command on our right." Had the commanding general's re- 
port been made within a week of this battle, it is safe to say that 
General Forrest would have received a much more commenda- 
tory paragraph. In the meantime, as will appear later, an event 
had transpired which had greatly embittered General Bragg, and 
made an irreparable breach between these two soldiers, which the 
President of the Confederacy, then on the ground, tried in vain to 
repair. 

The battle of Chickamauga is seriously claimed by writers of 
history as a Union victory; but the human mind, as allotted by 
the Creator to certain of his creatures, is capable of receiving any 
impression it chooses, and holding it as a fixed conviction. Other 
minds may gather a different and more rational conclusion of this 
great struggle, and from sources not then or ever in sympathy 
with the Southern side. In McClures Magazine for February, 
1898, Mr. Charles A. Dana, who in an ofificial capacity was repre- 
senting the President of the United States and the Secretary of 
War on this battle-field with General Rosecrans, thus describes 
some of the incidents of "September 20th at Chickamauga": 
" At daybreak we at headquarters were all up and on our horses 
ready to go with the commanding general to inspect our lines. 
We rode past McCook, Crittenden, and Thomas to the extreme 
left, Rosecrans giving as he went the orders he thought neces- 
sary to strengthen the several positions. The general intention 
of these orders was to close up on the left, where it was evident 
the attack would begin. We then rode back to the extreme 
right, Rosecrans stopping at each point to see if his orders 
had been obeyed. In several cases they had not been, and he 
made them more peremptory. When we found that McCook's 

256 



DANA'S DESCRIPTION OF CHICKAMAUGA 

line had been elongated, so that it was a mere thread, Rosecrans 
was very angry, and sent for the general, rebuking him severely; 
although, as a matter of fact. General McCook's position had been 
taken under the written orders of the commander-in-chief given 
the night before. About half past eight or nine o'clock the battle 
began again on the left, where Thomas was. At that time Rose- 
crans, with whom I always remained, was on the right, directing 
the movement of the troops there. I had not slept much for two 
nights, and, as it was warm, I dismounted about noon, and, giving 
my horse to my orderly, lay down on the grass and went to sleep. 
I was wakened by the most infernal noise I ever heard. Never in 
any battle I had witnessed was there such a discharge of cannon 
and musketry. I sat up on the grass, and the first thing I saw 
was General Rosecrans crossing himself ; he was a very pious Cath- 
olic. 'Hello,' I said to myself; 'if the general is crossing him- 
self, we are in a desperate situation.' I was on my horse in a 
moment. I had no sooner collected my thoughts and looked 
around towards the front, where all this din came from, than I saw 
our lines break and melt away like leaves before the wind. Then 
the headquarters around me disappeared. The gray-backs came 
through with a rush, and soon the musket-balls and cannon-shot 
began to reach the place where we stood. The whole right of the 
army had apparently been routed. My orderly stuck to me like 
a veteran, and we drew back for greater safety into the woods a 
little way. There I came upon General Horace Porter (Captain 
Porter it was then) and Captain Drouillard — an aide-de-camp in- 
fantry officer attached to General Rosecrans's staff — halting fugi- 
tives. They would halt a few of them, get them into some sort 
of line, and make a beginning of order among them, and then there 
would come a few rounds of cannon-shot through the tree-tops 
over their heads, and the men would break and run. I saw Por- 
ter and Drouillard plant themselves in front of a body of these 
stampeding men and command them to halt. One man charged 
with his bayonet, menacing Porter, but Porter held his ground, 
and the man gave in. That was the only case of real mutiny that 
I ever saw in the army, and it was under such circumstances that 
the man was excusable. The cause of all this disaster was the 
charge of the Confederates through a hiatus in our line, caused 
by the withdrawal of Wood's division, under a misapprehension of 
R 257 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

orders, before its place could be filled. I attempted to make my 
way from this point in the woods to Sheridan's division, but when 
I reached the position where I knew it had been placed a little 
time before I found it had been swept from the field. Not far 
away, however, I stumbled on a body of organized troops. This 
was a brigade of mounted riflemen, under Colonel John T. Wilder, 
of Indiana. ' Mr. Dana,' asked Colonel Wilder, ' what is the situa- 
tion?' 'I do not know,' I said, 'except that this part of the army 
has been routed. There is still heavy fighting on the left front, 
and our troops seem to be holding their ground there yet.' 
' Will you give me any orders ?' he asked. ' I have no author- 
ity to give orders,' I replied ; ' but if I were in your situation, 
I should go to the left, where Thomas is.' Then I turned 
my horse, and, making my way over Missionary Ridge, struck 
the Chattanooga valley and rode to Chattanooga, twelve or 
fifteen miles away. Everything on the route was in the great- 
est disorder. The whole road was filled with flying soldiers, 
and here and there were piled up pieces of artillery, caissons, 
and baggage - wagons. When I reached Chattanooga, a little 
before four o'clock, I found Rosecrans there. In the helter- 
skelter to the rear, he had escaped by the Rossville road. He was 
expecting every moment that the enemy would arrive before the 
town, and was doing all he could to prepare to resist his entrance. 
Soon after I arrived, the two corps commanders, McCook and 
Crittenden, both came into Chattanooga. The first thing I did 
on reaching the town was to telegraph Mr. Stanton. I had not 
sent him any telegrams in the morning, for I had been in the field 
with Rosecrans, and part of the time at some distance from the 
Widow Glenn's, where the operators were at work. The boys [tele- 
graph operators] kept at their work there until the Confederates 
drove them out of the house. When they had to run, they went, 
instruments and tools in hand, and as soon as out of reach of the 
enemy set up shop on a stump. It was not long before they were 
driven out of this. They next attempted to establish an office on 
the Rossville road, but before they had succeeded in making con- 
nections a battle was raging around them, and they had to retreat 
to Granger's headquarters at Rossville. Having been swept bod- 
ily off the battle-field, and having made my way into Chattanooga 
through a panic-stricken rabble, the first telegram I sent to Mr. 

258 



BATTLE OF CHICKAMAUGA 

Stanton was naturally colored by what I had seen and experi- 
enced. I remember that I began the despatch by saying : * My 
report to-day is of deplorable importance. Chickamauga is as fa- 
tal a name in our history as Bull Run.' " Mr. Dana subsequently 
modified his first telegram ; yet he felt, as most normal men do, 
that winning generals do not celebrate victories by running twelve 
miles away from the field of battle and leaving their artillery and 
thousands of muskets and prisoners in the enemy's hands. 

On Monday morning, September 21st, General Forrest, with a 
strong advance-guard from Armstrong's brigade, and accompanied 
by this latter general, moved forward on the Lafayette road tow- 
ards Chattanooga. When nearing Rossville they came upon a rear- 
guard of Federal cavalry, seeing which Forrest remarked, " Arm- 
strong, let's give them a dare." He immediately ordered a charge, 
and the two generals, at the head of some four hundred Confed- 
erate cavalry, at full speed rode down upon the Union troopers, 
who fired a volley and fled in the direction of Chattanooga. 
Forrest's horse was fatally wounded by this volley, a Minie ball 
passing through his neck and severing one of the large arteries. 
The blood spurted from the divided vessel, seeing which Forrest 
leaned forward from the saddle, inserted the index-finger of his 
hand into the wound, and thus, stanching the hemorrhage, the 
animal was still able to carry his rider onward with the troops 
pursuing the Federals. As soon as the field was cleared, Forrest, 
removing his finger from the wound, dismounted, when his noble 
charger sank to the earth and was soon lifeless.* 

General Armstrong says that just as the pursuit ceased he and 
Forrest found themselves on the point of a knoll or spur of Mis- 
sionary Ridge, and that, looking up in a clump of oak-trees, they 
saw three or four Federals perched in the timber upon little 
wooden platforms, where they had evidently been placed with 
field-glasses for purposes of observation. So rapid had been For- 
rest's advance that these men of the signal corps had no time to 
descend from their perches and escape. He called to them to 
cUmb down, which they immediately did. Taking a pair of glasses 
from one of the prisoners, he then climbed the tree, from the top 

* The author is indebted to General Frank C. Armstrong for a descrip- 
tion of this unusual scene. 

259- 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

of which he had a full sweep of the Chattanooga valley, of the 
town, Lookout Mountain, the Tennessee River, and Walden's 
Ridge to the far north. 

From his perch in the tree-top he dictated to Major Charles W. 
Anderson the celebrated despatch, an engraving of which is here 
presented, for which I am indebted to Dr. William M. Polk, of 
New York, who found it among his distinguished father's effects 
after his death. It was written upon a pale-blue sheet of paper, 
evidently torn out of a pocket memorandum-book. By pulling 
taut on the stirrup and holding it up high, the flat leather shield 
of this part of the saddle served as a table to support the paper as 
the despatch was written out. The switching of the horse's tail 
and the movement of his feet and legs, as he stamped to disen- 
gage the flies which were fretting him, will account for the stag- 
gering chirography.* In 1896 the writer sent a copy of this de- 
spatch to General James Longstreet, and in reply he received a 
letter which contains the following : " It was that despatch which 
fixed the fate of the Confederacy. General Bragg had decided to 
march around Rosecrans, leaving him in Chattanooga, when the 
despatch was received which caused Bragg to think that the place 
would be abandoned on the night of the 22d, when he decided to 
turn back and march through Chattanooga." General Longstreet 
had advocated this immediate movement across the Tennessee, 
throwing his army, flushed with victory and full of confidence, 
between Burnside and Rosecrans, and cooping the latter up in 
Chattanooga, where he would soon have been starved into surren- 
der or forced to retreat over Walden's Ridge and the Cumberland 
Mountains, with all the loss of morale and prestige this would 
have induced. The army of Rosecrans at this crisis was not in 
good fighting trim. The corps of Thomas alone was solid and 
fully effective. Dissensions, not to the point of mutiny, but se- 
rious enough to impair their effectiveness, had crept into the 
corps of McCook and Crittenden. The subordinate officers in 
these corps had complained to Rosecrans about their fleeing from 
the field of battle, and threatened to resign unless they were re- 
moved. Rosecrans did not exhibit a disposition to proceed with 
severity against Crittenden and McCook for quitting Thomas and 

* Manuscripts of Major Anderson, in possession of the author. 

260 











/^ 




BATTLE OF CHICKAMAUGA 

the field, for he was in the same boat. Taking it all in all, it was 
not a happy family. As it turned out, the rations got so low that 
the men were put on half-allowance. Mr. Dana says, " We were 
on the verge of starvation." Never was an army more at the 
mercy of another than was the army of the Tennessee had there 
been a big-brained, bold, and vigorous leader for the army of the 
South confronting it. 

When Forrest had heard the axes ringing again down in the 
gap at Rossville, he dismounted Dibrell's old regiment, now 
commanded by Captain McGinnis, and made a strong recon- 
naissance, only to discover that Thomas was fortifying himself 
here to hold back too vigorous pursuit. Though he brought up 
his guns and shelled them for several hours, he could not move 
them. That night he camped on the ridge, while the Federals 
stole away under cover of darkness, and safely reached the pro- 
tection of the heavy earthworks around Chattanooga. From the 
moment that Rosecrans reached this place, about four o'clock on 
Sunday, after his rapid journey from the field, he expected Bragg 
to come right on after him. With an energy born of despair, he 
immediately put every man and beast to work upon the defences. 
If Bragg could be kept away for twenty-four hours, he might yet 
be safe. Mr. Dana says : " Rosecrans gave orders for all our 
troops to prepare for the attack ; no attack was made that day, 
however, nor the next, and by the morning of the 24th the hercu- 
lean labors of the army had so fortified the place that it was cer- 
tain it could only be taken by a regular siege or a turning move- 
ment." On the 22d the cavalry under Forrest moved into the 
suburbs of Chattanooga. During that night his troops were kept 
in line of battle, his left, under Dibrell, resting on the base of Look- 
out Mountain, his right on the Tennessee River. On Monday, 
the 23d, he had occupied the point or peak of Lookout Mountain, 
where his troops were relieved by the infantry. The cavalry were 
then ordered to Byrd's Mill to rest and forage, shoe the horses, 
and cook rations. By September 25th the forces of Burnside were 
reported as being at Harrison, and General Forrest was directed to 
proceed thither. Marching at once, he had proceeded as far as 
Chickamauga station, when a courier overtook him with orders to 
hasten via Cleveland to Charleston, drive off any of the enemy in 
that vicinity, and, if necessary, to cross the Hiawassee River. On 

263 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

the morning of the 26th, at Charleston, he discovered the Union 
troops on the opposite side of the river, opened on them with his 
artillery, under cover of which he crossed his command and drove 
the enemy away. Pressing this detachment to Philadelphia, his ad- 
vance under Dibrell came upon the Union cavalry under Colonel 
Wolford, and, after a very brilliant fight on the part of Colonel 
Dibrell and his men, the Federals were badly beaten and driven 
in full flight from the field. One hundred and twenty prisoners 
were captured and sent to Dalton. The important part taken 
by Forrest and his troops during and immediately following the 
battle of Chickamauga may be more fully appreciated by ex- 
tracts from his official report, which was dated at Dalton, Georgia, 
October 22d, 1863. After detailing his advance from Dalton to 
Ringgold, on Thursday, the 17th, and the action which occurred 
between his command at Pea Vine Creek, where he came into 
contact with Minty's brigade of Union cavalry on the i8th, he 
states : 

" On the morning of the 19th I was ordered to move with my 
command down the road towards Reed's Bridge and develop the 
enemy, which was promptly done, and their advance was soon 
engaged at the steam saw-mill near that point. Finding the 
enemy too strong for General Pegram's force, I despatched a staff 
officer to Lieutenant-General Polk, asking for Armstrong's di- 
vision. He could only spare Colonel Dibrell's brigade, which 
arrived shortly after we engaged the enemy ; was speedily dis- 
mounted and formed, and, with General Pegram's division, were 
able to hold position until infantry re-enforcements arrived, the 
first brigade of which, under Colonel Wilson, formed on the left, 
advanced in gallant style, driving the enemy back and capturing 
a battery of artillery, my dismounted cavalry advancing with 
them. The superior force of the enemy compelled us to give 
back until re-enforced by General Ector's brigade, when the 
enemy was again driven back. From statements of prisoners 
captured, the enemy's force engaged was four brigades of infantry 
and one of cavalry ; but when driven back the second time, with 
the loss of another battery, their full strength was developed, and, 
being met and overpowered by vastly superior numbers, we were 
compelled to fall back to our first position. A cavalry charge 
was made to protect the infantry as they retired, which they did 

264 



II 




KUIGADIEU-CENKRAL GEORCE G. DIKRELL 
(From a photograph taken after the war) 



EXTRACTS FROM FORREST'S OFFICIAL REPORT 

in good order, but with loss. We captured many prisoners, but 
were unable, for want of horses, to bring off the guns captured 
from the enemy. 

" Until the arrival of Major-General Walker (being the senior 
officer present) I assumed temporary command of the infantry, 
and I must say that the fighting and the gallant charges of the 
two brigades just referred to excited my admiration. They broke 
the enemy's lines, and could not be halted or withdrawn until 
nearly surrounded. We fell back, fighting and contesting the 
ground, to our original position near the mill on the Reed's 
Bridge road. General Cheatham's division coming up and en- 
gaging the enemy, drove them for some distance, but was in turn 
compelled to fall back. Seeing General Maney's brigade hard 
pressed and retiring before the enemy, I hastened to his relief with 
Freeman's battery of six pieces, dismounting Colonel Dibrell's 
brigade to support it. 

" The conduct of Major John Rawle, chief of artillery, and the 
officers and men of this battery on this occasion deserves special 
mention. . . . They were gallantly protected by Colonel Dibrell in 
retiring, who fell back with the line of infantry. General Arm- 
strong, having been relieved by General Polk, arrived with his 
brigade, and took command of his division, forming it, and, with 
Pegram's division, holding the road to Reed's Bridge, which had 
been repaired during the day. 

" On Sunday morning, the 20th, I received orders to move up 
and keep in line with General Breckinridge's division, which I 
did, dismounting all of General Armstrong's division, except the 
First Tennessee Regiment and McDonald's battalion, holding 
General Pegram's division in reserve on my right. The two 
commands of General Armstrong's division which were mounted 
took possession of the La Fayette road, capturing the enemy's 
hospitals and quite a number of prisoners. They were com- 
pelled to fall back, as the enemy's reserves, under General 
Granger, advanced on that road. Colonel Dibrell fought on 
foot with the infantry during the day. As General Granger 
approached, by shelling his command and manoeuvring my 
troops, he was detained nearly two hours, and prevented 
from joining the main force until late in the evening, and then 
at double-quick, under a heavy fire from Freeman's battery 

265 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST '^ 

and a section of Napoleon guns borrowed from General Breckin- 
ridge. 

" After Granger's column had vacated the road in front of me, I 
moved my dismounted men rapidly forward and took possession 
of the road from the Federal hospital to the woods on the left* 
through which infantry was advancing and fighting. My artillery 
was ordered forward, but before it could reach the road and be 
placed in position, a charge was made my the enemy, the infantry 
line retreating in confusion and leaving me without support, but 
held the ground long enough to get my artillery back to the posi- 
tion from which we had shelled Granger's column, and opened 
upon the advancing column with fourteen pieces of artillery, 
driving them back, and terminating on the right flank the battle 
of Chickamauga. This fire was at short range, in open ground, 
and was to the enemy very destructive, killing two colonels and 
many other officers and privates. 

" It is with pride and pleasure that I mention the gallent con- 
duct of the officers and men of my command. General Arm- 
strong's division fought almost entirely on foot, always up and 
frequently in advance of the infantry. 

" My command was kept on the field during the night of the 
20th, and men and horses suffered greatly for want of water. 
The men were without rations, and the horses had only received 
a partial feed once during the two days' engagement." 

It was while in pursuit of the retreating enemy, on September 
30th, that Forrest received from General Bragg the following 
order : 

"Missionary Ridge, September 18, 1863, 
" Brigadier-General Forrest, near Athens : 

"General, — The general commanding desires that you will without de- 
lay turn over the troops of your command, previously ordered, to Major 
General Wheeler."* 



Upon the receipt of this message, Forrest gave way to a vio 
lent outburst of temper, at the height of which he dictated to 
Major Charles W. Anderson of his staff a letter addressed to 
General Bragg. As recited to the author by Major Anderson, in 



* Official Records, vol. xxx. part iv. p. 710. 
266 



11 




I>K. J. H. COWAN 
Cliief Surgeon, Forrest's Cavalry 



INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT DAVIS 

this communication to the Commander-in-Chief of the Army of 
Tennessee he resented the manner in which he had been treated, 
and entered an earnest protest against the surrender of the troops 
which had become veterans under his immediate leadership and 
had estabhshed a fighting record second to none in any of the 
armies of the Confederacy. 

Stung to the quick as he must have been over what he deemed 
the unjust order of September 28th, Forrest did not olYer to re- 
sign his commission, although he was irrevocably fixed in the de- 
termination to serve no longer under General Bragg. Between 
the two, friendly relations were never re-established, although 
President Davis, who was at last beginning to realize the great 
ability of Forrest, used his personal influence to bring about a 
reconciliation. 

Even after Bragg was moved to Richmond as military ad- 
viser, etc., to the President, the records show his animosity 
to his former brigadier, and also the continued friendship and 
admiration of Mr. Davis for Forrest. The latter made known 
to him his grievance and his determination to serve no longer in 
Bragg's department. Mr. Davis invited him to a personal inter- 
view in Montgomery, and Forrest straightway went there. En 
route, Colonel R. B. Kyle, of Gadsden, Alabama, travelled with 
him. He says: " Forrest told me he would not serve longer un- 
der Bragg; that he was not competent to command any army; 
that the army had whipped the Federals badly at Chickamauga, 
and that he, with his command, had followed them almost to the 
suburbs of Chattanooga ; that they were demoralized and could 
have been captured, and that he rode back himself, after sending 
couriers and getting no replies, and found General Bragg asleep. 
He urged that they move on in pursuit of the enemy at once, as 
their capture was certain. Bragg asked how he could move an 
army without supplies, as his men had exhausted them. Forrest's 
reply was: 'General Bragg, we can get all the supplies our army 
needs in Chattanooga.' Bragg made no reply, and Forrest rode 
away disgusted."* The conference with the President was satis- 
factory in every way to Forrest. The President assured him 
of the full appreciation by the Southern people and by himself of 

* Personal narrative. 
267 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

the important services he had rendered, and of his desire to con- 
form to his wishes for an independent command in Mississippi and 
west Tennessee. He reverted to the communication he had re- 
ceived some few weeks before, and suggested some slight modifica- 
tions in the plan as laid out by Forrest. The document referred 
to is worthy of careful scrutiny. 

It was written while Forrest was stationed at Kingston in east 
Tennessee, on August 9th, 1863,'^ and addressed — through General 
Bragg's headquarters — to General S. Cooper, adjutant-general, at 
Richmond, Virginia. Ten days laterf a copy of this letter was 
sent to President Davis direct. To the President he wrote : 

" Having understood that it was likely it would not be forwarded by the 
general commanding the department, and believing the matter of sufficient 
importance to merit the consideration of your Excellency, I have taken the 
liberty of sending a copy direct. While I believe the general commanding 
is unwilling for me to leave his department, still I hope to be permitted to go 
where (as I believe) I can serve my country best, especially so as an experi- 
enced and competent officer, Brigadier-General Armstrong, would be left in 
command of my division." 

The letter is as follows : 

"General, — Prompted by the repeated solicitations of numerous friends 
and acquaintances resident in west Tennessee and northern Mississippi, also 
by a desire to serve my country to the best of my ability, and wherever those 
services can be rendered most available and effective, I respectfully lay be- 
fore you a proposition which, if approved, will seriously, if not entirely, ob- 
struct the navigation of the Mississippi River, and in sixty days procure a 
large force now inside the enemy's lines, which without this, or a similar move, 
cannot be obtained. % 

" The proposition is this : Give me the command of the forces from 
Vicksburg to Cairo, or, in other words, all the forces I may collect together 
and organize between those points — say in northern Mississippi, west Tennes- 
see, and those that may join me from Arkansas, Mississippi, and southern 
Kentucky. I desire to take with me only about four hundred men from my 
present command — viz., my escort, sixty ; McDonald's battalion, one hun- 
dred and fifty ; the Second Kentucky Cavalry, two hundred and fifty — se- 
lected entirely on account of their knowledge of the country in which I pro- 
pose to operate. In all, say, men and outfit, four hundred men, with long-range 
guns (Enfield), four three-inch Dahlgren or Parrott guns, with eight nuniber- 

* Official Records, vol. xxiii. part ii. p. 955. 

t Ibid. vol. XXX. part iv. p. 507. t Italics added. 

268 



APPLIES FOR INDEPENDENT COMMAND 

one horses to each gun and caisson, two wagons for the battery, one pack- 
mule to every ten men. and two hundred rounds of ammunition for small 
arms and artillery. 

" I would like to have Captain (W. W.) Carnes. now at Chattanooga in 
some portion of General Braggs army, to command the battery, and in case 
he was detached for the expedition, that he be allowed to select his cannon- 
eers, etc. I have resided on the Mississippi for over twenty years, was for 
many years engaged in buying and selling negroes, and know the country 
perfectly well between Memphis and Vicksburg, and also am well acquainted 
with all the promment planters in that region, as well as above Memphis I 
also have officers in my command and on my staff who have rafted timber 
out of the bottoms, and know every foot of the ground between Commerce 
and Vicksburg. With the force proposed, and my knowledge of the river- 
bottoms, as well as the knowledge my men have of the country from Vicks- 
burg up. I am confident we could so move and harass and destroy boats on 
the river that only boats heavily protected by gunboats would be able to 
make the passage. 

" I ask also authority to organize all troops that can be obtained and 
that I be promised long-range guns for them as soon as organizations are re- 
ported. There are many half-organized regiments, battalions, and companies 
in northern Mississippi and west Tennessee, but they are without arms and 
have no way of getting out, and it only requires a little time and a nucleus 
around which they can form, to organize and put them in the field. I believe 
that in sixty days I can raise from five to ten thousand men between Vicks- 
burg and Cairo, well mounted and ready for service as soon as provided 
with guns and ammunition. 

" In making this proposition. I desire to state that I do so entirely for the 
good of the service. I believe that I can accomplish all that I propose to 
do. I have never asked for position, have taken position and performed the 
duties assigned me. and have never yet suffered my command to be surprised 
or defeated. I should leave this department with many regrets as I am 
well pleased with the officers in my command and with the division serving 
under me. I shall especially regret parting with my old brigade. It was or- 
ganized by me. and a record of its past services and present condition will 
compare favorably with any cavalry command in the service, and nothing 
but a desire to destroy the enemy's transports and property, and increase the 
strength of our army, could for a moment induce me voluntarily to part 
with them. There are thousands of men where I propose to go that I am 
satisfied will join me, and that rapidly (otherwise they will remain where 
they are), until all the country bordering on the Mississippi from Cairo down 
IS taken and permanently occupied by our forces. 

" I am. general, very respectfully, your obedient servant. 

" N. B. Forrest, Brigadier-General." 

This document had, undoubtedly, in whole or in part reached 

269 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

Richmond at an earlier date. Mr. James A. Seddon, Secretary 
of War, August 19th, says, in a letter to General Joseph E. John- 
ston: " It is not of less importance that the use of the Mississippi 
River for trade should, if possible, be debarred to the enemy. 
If this could be done effectually, it would deprive the North 
of most of the fruits of their late successes in Mississippi, and 
satisfy the Northwest of the impossibility of ever enjoying the 
Mississippi as an avenue of trade without peace and amity 
with the Confederate States. I should think, in the present 
low state of the water, field artillery, with cavalry, might find 
ready access to the bank of the river for hundreds of miles, 
and render the passage of trading-boats entirely impracticable y * 
Mr. Davis hesitated, and lost the untold benefits which might 
have accrued had this genius in war been turned loose and un- 
trammelled, to employ his never-failing resources in this impor- 
tant work. The Mississippi was the only route left open to the 
Federal army in Mississippi and Louisiana. After the west Ten- 
nessee raid, General Grant had abandoned the railroads as unsafe 
and unreliable, and henceforth he said he would rely upon the 
Mississippi River. Forrest would have made this so unsafe that 
it too must have ceased to be successfully utilized. The Presi- 
dent endorsed upon this letter, which was ofificially submitted to 
him : ** The services of Brigadier-General Forrest would no doubt 
be valuable in that portion of the country to which he refers, and 
in the character of the service described. The propriety of de- 
taching him, with a portion of his brigade, could be better decided 
after a report from his commanding general." But the com- 
manding general did not want to lose Forrest at that time. They 
were on good terms then. His endorsement reads : " I know no 
officer to whom I would sooner assign the duty preferred, than 
which none is more important, but it would deprive this army of 
one of its greatest elements of strength to remove General For- 
rest." Here was a dawn of the appreciation of the " unlettered ' 
general " at his worth. Bragg had his way this time with the 
President. Mr. Davis, on August 28th, wrote : " The endorse- 
ment of General Bragg indicated the propriety of a postpone- 
ment. Subsequent events have served to render the proposition 

* Italics not in original. 
270 



ASSIGNED TO COMMAND IN THE WEST 

more objectionable. Whenever a change of circumstances will 
permit, the measure may be adopted." The chief subsequent 
event was the great battle of Chickamauga. Bragg and Davis 
had made up their minds to fight Rosecrans there, and they 
showed great wisdom in holding the man who on these three 
glorious days kept unbroken vigil over the Southern right flank, 
fighting his horsemen on foot, and holding them always up to 
and often in front of the infantry. 

One of the greatest of the many blunders made by those who 
guided the destinies of the Southern Confederacy was the failure 
at this time to appreciate the tremendous damage which Forrest 
(had he been given carte blanche to go into this territory and 
carry out the plans suggested) would have inflicted upon the 
cause of the Union. He would have closed the Mississippi to all 
practical purposes, or forced the authorities of the United States 
to employ a vast fleet of gunboats and a large army of troops to 
chase him away. He would thus have added enormously to the 
difiRculties, already great, in supplying their army. As already 
shown, his destruction of the railroads in west Tennessee had 
forced General Grant to abandon any reliance upon these high- 
ways for his supplies, and he stated afterwards that the Missis- 
sippi was the only safe route. 

As a result of the conference with Mr. Davis, Forrest, although 
he objected to the restrictions placed upon him, accepted the 
service offered him in the West, and early in November of that 
year bade farewell to the brigade which had served so faithfully 
under him, and then left for the new field of duty. The parting 
with his old command was mutually sad and full of lasting re- 
grets, especially with that splendid brigade composed of Starnes's 
Fourth, BifHe's Fifth, Dibrell's Eighth, Edmondson's Eleventh, 
and Cox's Tenth Tennessee regiments, and Freeman's famous 
battery. They fought through the war true to the prestige gained 
under their idolized commander, and not a battle-field where they 
were called upon to march into the fray but is honored as the 
sepulchre of some of these heroic men. 



CHAPTER XII 

IN THE NEW FIELD OF DUTY 

Forrest Starts for the West from Atlanta with Four Pieces of Artillery and a Total of 
Two Hundred and Seventy-one Men — Is Assigned to Command of Mounted 
Troops in West Tennessee — Arrives at Okalona — Wretched Condition of Affairs 
in that Section — With Five Hundred Men He Crosses the Trocha and Invades 
West Tennessee — Establishes Recruiting Bureaus throughout that Section — Aided 
by General Tyree H. Bell, and Colonels A. N. Wilson, John F. Newsom, R. M. 
Russell, and D. M. Wisdom, a Considerable Force is Recruited — Forrest Gathers 
Up a Large Herd of Cattle and Other Necessary Supplies and Marches South — 
Fighting in all Directions — By a Brilliant Piece of Strategy He Deceives the 
Enemy, Crosses the Hatchie, and Marches South in Sight of Memphis. 

GENERAL BRAGG did not withdraw his objections to the 
transfer of Forrest to the West until October 13, 1863. On 
this date he wrote to President Davis that he had with- 
held his approval because he deemed " the service of that distin- 
guished officer necessary with this army. As that request can 
now be granted without injury to the public interests in this 
quarter, I respectfully ask that the transfer be made." 

On the 29th of this same month Mr. Davis wrote to General 
Forrest, directing him "to proceed to his new field of duty." 
From Atlanta, Georgia, on November 7th, 1863, he wrote to 
General S. Cooper, at Richmond : " Major McDonald's battalion, 
my escort company, and the battery will comprise my entire 
command, which is wholly inadequate to the undertaking; yet I 
will use all the energy I possess to accomplish the object I have 
proposed." He enclosed the following list of the command: 

Field and staff 8 

Escort company 65 

McDonald's battalion i39 

Captain J. W. Morton's battery 67 

Total effectives 271* 

* Official Records, vol. xxxi. part iii. p. 646. 
272 



STARTS FOR WEST TENNESSEE 

In assigning Forrest to his new command in west Tennessee, 
General Joseph E. Johnston wrote : " He will, on arriving there, 
proceed to raise and organize as many troops for the Confederate 
service as he finds practicable. Colonel Richardson will report to 
General Forrest, of whose command his troops will form a part." 

The fact that Forrest was to take charge of affairs in west 
Tennessee had already reached the ears of General Hurlbut, the 
Federal commander of this district, whose headquarters were at 
Memphis. On November 3d he wrote to General Grant : " It is 
currently believed that Forrest has been assigned to this depart- 
ment. If so, there will be more dash in their attacks." 

Although it was not until the i6th of November that Forrest 
reached Okalona, in Mississippi, General McPherson had two days 
before telegraphed General Sherman that Forrest was organizing 
a force to operate on the river south of Memphis, and that he had 
as much as six pieces of artillery. Two days later, General Hurl- 
but, at Memphis, was informed that Forrest was coming, and would 
surely attack Collierville before the i8th ; and this officer assures 
his superior, General Sherman, that he would try " to be ready 
for him, though he may break through and pass north." These 
and other despatches of like note found in the official records of 
this period are indications of the importance attached by the 
Union authorities to his advent in the West. 

From Atlanta to Rome, and thence westward, along the route 
over which, a few months before, he had pursued and captured 
Streight's raiders, Forrest marched with his handful of men — a 
brigadier-general with an army of two hundred and seventy-one 
men. After more than two years of hard service, successful in re- 
sults beyond any commander of mounted troops, he had been de- 
prived of two different brigades which he had organized and made 
effective ; and now, at the head of this small cavalcade, with four 
pieces of artillery, he was on the way to a new sphere of action, 
in which he was to build up again a new army. If the ingratitude 
of his government or the persecution of Bragg caused any bitter 
reflections in his mind, he was careful to refrain from expressing 
them. His loyalty to the cause of the Confederacy was not di- 
minished, and he permitted no doubt of ultimate success to find a 
lodging-place within him. 

Arriving at Okalona, Forrest was disappointed in the small 
s 273 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

number of troops that Colonel R. V. Richardson had present for 
duty to turn over to him. Forrest informed General Johnston, 
on the 2ist of November: "I think two hundred and fifty will 
cover all the troops Colonel Richardson has. He desires to com- 
mand a brigade, but as I shall have only about a thousand men 
with which to cross the Memphis and Charleston railroad, I shall 
take direct and immediate command of all the troops myself." 

It will give the reader an idea of the difificulties which beset 
General Forrest from the outset in his military experience in 
northern Mississippi and west Tennessee to state the fact that 
when he asked Colonel Richardson where the men he was re- 
ported to have were, the latter replied that he had brought out of 
west Tennessee with him about eight hundred troops; that as 
they had come away from home during the warm season, they 
had provided themselves only with light summer clothing, and, 
with the first approach of cold weather, without asking permission, 
they had gone home to get heavier apparel for winter use. The 
inventory of arms and equipment showed that there were only 
271 guns and 151 pistols in the entire command of Colonel Rich- 
ardson, and 247 horses that were fit for duty.* The men who 
had returned to their homes within the enemy's lines had carried 
with them 517 serviceable Enfield and Austrian rifles. Although 
Forrest had been promised another regiment, when it finally 
marched into Okalona to report to him it numbered 150 men, and 
about a fourth of these did not have any arms. Four hundred 
new troops in all to add to the forlorn hope of 271, which fol- 
lowed his banner into Mississippi, did not at this time make a very 
formidable showing, but, formidable or not, he had determined to 
attempt to break through the strong cordon of Federal troops 
along the Memphis and Charleston railroad, march into west 
Tennessee, establish his headquarters in the neighborhood of 
Jackson, far within the enemy's lines, and recruit his army by first 
calling for volunteers, and, if this were not successful, by con- 
scription. 

In this important enterprise Forrest had enlisted the energy 
and loyalty of Tyree H. Bell, a man of great influence in this sec- 
tion of Tennessee, and a leader of dauntless courage and ability. 

* Official Records, vol. xxxi. part iii. p. 731. 

274 



REACHES HIS OLD "STAMPING-GROUNDS" 

His selection of such a lieutenant demonstrated again the fine 
judgment of men which General Forrest possessed. They had 
become acquainted while serving in Bragg's army, and when Gen- 
eral Forrest was promised an independent command in west Ten- 
nessee he requested Bell, who was the senior colonel in Preston 
Smith's brigade, to go with him, promising him a commission as 
brigadier-general if he would raise a command sufficient to justi- 
fy the promotion. Colonel Bell, with a small detachment, had 
been sent in advance into the counties west of the Tennessee 
River " to spy out the land," and had spread throughout all that 
quarter the information that Forrest was coming to occupy that 
section and hold it for the Confederacy. General Forrest and 
Colonel Bell had also secured the assistance of several able and 
devoted officers, who were an invaluable aid in organizing the 
new command. Among these were Colonels A. N. Wilson, John 
F. Newsom, R. M. Russell, and Lieutenant-Colonel D. M. Wis- 
dom, all of whom had already seen service, and were favorably 
known to the people of this region. Such was the enthusiasm 
aroused by their labors and the presence of General Forrest that 
when he invaded the country, in December of 1863, three regi- 
ments were recruited, and, although without arms and equipment, 
marched out under these officers. Colonel C. R. Barteau's Sec- 
ond Tennessee regiment was later on joined with the regiments 
of Wilson, Newsom, and Russell, forming a brigade of which 
Brigadier-General Bell was placed in command. 

On December ist, Forrest headed his small battalion northward 
towards the Memphis and Charleston railroad. Such was the dif- 
ficulty in securing horses that at the last moment he found he 
had only enough to pull two of his small pieces of artillery. In 
order to make a diversion in his favor. Generals Lee and Chalmers 
had with two detachments of troops moved up in the direction of 
Memphis, feigned an attack upon this position, which caused a con- 
centration of Federal troops who were scattered along the railroad 
at various points, and thus enabled Forrest to break through be- 
tween the depleted outposts. Moving swiftly, with nothing to 
impede his progress excepting the two pieces of artillery and five 
light wagons loaded with ammunition, on the 4th of Decem- 
ber the railroad was safely passed without molestation. Gen- 
eral S. D. Lee despatched to General Joseph E. Johnston that 

275 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

Forrest had " marched into west Tennessee with four hundred and 
fifty men and two guns, having been compelled to leave the bal- 
ance of his artillery for lack of horses to pull them." 

General Sherman, who always kept an eye open for the Confed- 
erate cavalryman, was at once informed of Forrest's movement, 
and in reply telegraphed to Hurlbut that he did not attach a great 
deal of importance to the movement. He said : " I have made 
the junction at which I was aiming, and am rather indifferent to 
Forrest's reported expedition. He may cavort about the country 
as much as he pleases." Sherman's indifference was, however, not 
to be of long duration. Once more on his old "stamping-ground," 
far within the Union lines, the bold raider was soon " cavorting " 
in such lively fashion that both Grant and Sherman were com- 
pelled to concentrate an overwhelming force against him, in order 
to drive him back to Mississippi, not, however, until he had raised 
a small army within the limits of the " enemy's country," with 
which he was to accomplish wonders and cause infinite trouble to 
those great leaders of the Union hosts in 1864. 

The Confederates were successful in avoiding any conflict with 
the Federals until they neared the Hatchie River at Bolivar, in 
Tennessee. At this point they collided with a body of cavalry 
belonging to General B. H. Grierson's command, and a lively 
skirmish ensued. In a despatch informing his superior that 
Forrest had crossed the Hatchie at Bolivar, this officer says : 
"Colonel Hatch was wounded through the lung. Our loss, four 
or five killed and about twenty wounded. The Sixth Illinois 
lost thirty or forty horses killed." 

As might have been expected, the advent of Forrest created 
considerable excitement in the various military posts scattered 
along the Tennessee, Ohio, and Mississippi rivers. On Decem- 
ber 7th, General A. J. Smith, who was at Columbus, Kentucky, 
received a despatch that Forrest had passed into west Tennessee 
for the purpose of organizing all the guerillas and local compa- 
nies into his command, and was concentrating them in the neigh- 
borhood of Jackson and Trenton. He expressed to his subor- 
dinate a " desire to make thorough work of these trespassers." 
General J. G. Stevenson, another of these post - commanders, 
on the nth of December informed General Hurlbut at Mem- 
phis that Forrest was conscripting every man in west Ten- 

276 



RECRUITING IN KENTUCKY AND TENNESSEE 

nessee capable of bearing arms, and taking all negroes fit for 
soldiers. 

On the 6th of December, Forrest advised General Johnston that 
he had "arrived safely at Jackson, and was highly pleased with 
the prospect ; that a healthy spirit manifested itself among the 
people ; that he had already gathered together about five thou- 
sand men, and thought it likely, if unmolested until the ist of 
January, he should be able to put about eight thousand effective 
troops into the field." 

The citizens of this section of the Union must have been im- 
pressed with the fact that a state of war really existed. The Fed- 
eral authorities had already established recruiting bureaus, and 
had been doing all in their power to induce the male citizens, 
black and white, eligible to military service, to enlist in the Union 
army ; and now Forrest and his lieutenants were calling for volun- 
teers, and conscripting all those who would not answer to the call. 
The few troops he had brought with him, and others that had im- 
mediately on his arrival rallied to his standard, were scattered 
throughout the country under trusted subordinates, and recruiting 
stations were established in every county of west Tennessee and 
Kentucky. As the Federals were occupying most of the important 
towns, this work had to be done with great care and secrecy, and 
was attended with considerable risk. Rendezvous were established 
in unfrequented spots, often in the dense canebrakes and in the 
ravines and thickets of the river-bottoms, to which only the initi- 
ated could find their way. In these lonely places, as fast as the 
new levies were secured they were enlisted. Those who volun- 
teered, and were therefore trustworthy, were placed as guards over 
those who had been forcibly conscripted. 

Such was his success in attracting recruits that it soon excited 
the apprehension of General Grant, who, with his devoted subor- 
dinate, Sherman, immediately ordered a combination of move- 
ments to destroy Forrest or drive him out of this section. The 
wily leader was not, however, to be taken by surprise or outwitted 
by any combination. Without being a student of the science of 
war, he knew intuitively that success depended first of all upon 
being thoroughly informed in regard to the movements and inten- 
tions of " the enemy." The most daring and trustworthy men en- 
listed in his service were detailed in the performance of scouting 

277 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

duty. The movements that Grant and Sherman had ordered were 
not under way before Forrest informed Johnston that they were 
preparing expeditions against him from the direction of Columbus, 
Kentucky, and Fort Pillow on the Mississippi. For these he 
cared little, but he expressed an anxiety in regard to a movement 
which he had anticipated from Memphis and the South. He re- 
quested his department commander that General S. D. Lee be di- 
rected to occupy the attention of the Federals along the line of the 
Memphis and Charleston railroad, and hold them there. " If this 
were done," he says, " I will be able to take care of any force that 
can come at me from the North," He adds : " I am exceedingly 
anxious to get the arms promised me by the President, and ear- 
nestly ask that General Lee, with all the cavalry that can be spared, 
be brought up to west Tennessee at this juncture, bringing with 
him the arms and ammunition needed for the new troops. If this 
were done, we could effectually destroy the Memphis and Charles- 
ton railroad, and drive out from here between four and six thou- 
sand head of good beef cattle for the use of the army. If I hear 
that he is coming to help me, I will build a pontoon-bridge across 
the Hatchie, and will have the cattle gathered up by the time he 
can reach me. I am in great need of money, and have had to ad- 
vance to my quartermaster and commissary $20,000 of my private 
funds to subsist the command thus far."* 

So impressed was Forrest with the advantages that would 
accrue to the Confederate arms by holding possession of the 
fertile country west of the Tennessee River that he despatched 
Major M. C. Galloway to Richmond to lay the facts before the 
President. He says: "The destruction of the Memphis and 
Charleston railroad, and the blockading of the Tennessee River, 
which is easy of accomplishment, gives us west Tennessee. With 
the means asked for, I am satisfied we can hold the country, and 
secure for the army a vast amount of provisions and supplies not 
to be obtained in like quantity at so little cost anywhere else." 

He made a special request that General Gideon J. Pillow be 
sent to serve with him there, and also General Frank C. Arm- 
strong. " With such assistance and experience I am confident 
that I shall have in a short time eight thousand effective men in 

* Official Records, vol. xxxi. part iii. p. 789. 
278 




M. C. GALLOWAY 
Aide-de-camp 



RETREAT TO MISSISSIPPI 

the field, besides some thousand belonging to various infantry 
commands, all of whom will be sent back at the earliest possible 
moment." 

Forrest never for a moment neglected to show his appreciation 
and friendship for General Pillow. He could not forget the cou- 
rageous fight this brave and loyal soldier had made side by side 
with him at Fort Donelson, and the determination he had dis- 
played never to surrender, but to fight it out to the last ; and he 
believed, as did the vast majority of the rank and file of the Con- 
federate army, that General Pillow had unjustly suffered at the 
hands of the government at Richmond for the failure to extricate 
the army which unnecessarily surrendered at Donelson. But the 
request for General Pillow was without avail, nor was General 
Armstrong sent to the aid of Forrest. On December 13th, Mr. 
Davis informed General Johnston that "Brigadier-General For- 
rest is promoted to the rank of major-general, and will, I hope, 
supply your wants in northern Mississippi and west Tennessee, so 
as to enable you to draw Major-General Lee to the southern por- 
tion of your department." 

At this time Forrest was led to believe that an expedition from 
the direction of middle Tennessee was on its way to unite with 
the other movements which had been organized against him. 
General William Sooy Smith, with whom the Confederate leader 
was soon to have an interesting experience, had appeared on the 
horizon from this quarter. On the 28th of December he marched 
out of Nashville towards Columbia, and thence westward to 
swoop down upon Forrest, who, as he stated in his report at that 
time, was at Jackson, Tennessee. 

Being now convinced that the Federals were in earnest to close 
in upon him from all directions, the Confederate commander 
deemed it a wise precaution to send some of his unarmed troops 
southward for safety. Colonel R. M. Russell, who had recruited 
one of the new regiments, accompanied by a small detachment of 
men who had arms, left Jackson on the morning of December 
13th, and, travelling at night by forced marches along unfre- 
quented ways, succeeded in eluding observation and pursuit, and 
reached Mississippi without molestation. Forrest had calculated, 
as he had informed General Johnston, that the enemy would 
reach him about the 25th, and asked his commander to send what 

279 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

troops could be spared from Generals Chalmers's and Ferguson's 
commands without delay to a point within reach of him, to aid 
him in taking the cattle and other supplies out, and to assist in 
meeting any expedition of the enemy against him. He suggested 
that these officers bring their troops to cross the Hatchie at Es- 
tenaula, where he would have forage prepared for them and boats 
ready for crossing. " If this be done, I am able to protect my- 
self against any move from Union City. Should they, however, 
send two expeditions against me, one from Fort Pillow, I am 
afraid I will have more than I can manage with the raw and un- 
armed troops that I have, especially so should they move on me 
from below at the same time. I have reliable information that 
they are pressing every liorse in Memphis to mount their infan- 
try, and that all the enemy's force at La Grange has been sent 
down to Memphis, and thence up the river in boats." 

Although he had diligently scoured the country for arms, For- 
rest was still far from being prepared to meet any considerable 
body of the enemy's troops with his new command ; and when 
on the point of moving southward, under pressure of the columns 
that were advancing upon him, he sent another courier to General 
Polk, saying that unless the assistance he had asked for was sent 
to him, he would have to abandon the cattle and much of the 
supplies he had collected. 

The Confederate leader's flight out of west Tennessee, with his 
raw levies, was none too soon. That able leader. General A. J. 
Smith, from the direction of Columbus, and General Grierson, 
from the direction of Memphis, were moving upon him. Minzer's 
brigade had been ordered from Corinth to march to Purdy to hem 
him in on that side, while all the Federal cavalry that had been at 
La Grange were advanced to Bolivar, directly in his route to the|j 
south. The same day General William Sooy Smith was reported, 
with about twenty-five hundred veteran cavalry, coming from the 
east towards Jackson in Tennessee. 

When it was known that Forrest was to command the cavalry 
in the new department, Generals Grant and Sherman had put 
their heads together to find a cavalry leader of ability sufficient 
to cope with so formidable an adversary. General Grant's selec- 
tion fell upon General William Sooy Smith, and on the nth of 
November he was made chief of cavalry for the military division 

280 



II 



ESCAPES THE SNARES OF HIS ENEMIES 

of Mississippi. General Sherman did not altogether approve the 
selection. The blunt soldier wrote to his superior on December 
19th: "I deem General William Sooy Smith too mistrustful of 
himself for a leader against Forrest. Mower is a better man for 
the duty." Subsequent events showed the superior judgment of 
Sherman in weighing men in the balance. 

Well might General Hurlbut congratulate himself that the fox 
was in the toils: "Forrest must fight or run. I think we shall 
cure him of his ambition to command west Tennessee." And 
last of all, to make assurance sure, General Grant ordered Briga- 
dier-General Crook to move with his command from Huntsville, 
Alabama, with a view to operate against Forrest in west Ten- 
nessee. But all of these strategic moves were without avail. 
Though the situation was one of peril, and the difficulties to be 
overcome were great, the masterly genius of Forrest was equal to 
the emergency. 

On the 22d of December, Chalmers appeared in the neighbor- 
hood of Memphis, along the southern border of Tennessee, and 
this movement General Hurlbut properly construed into a diver- 
sion to enable Forrest to make his escape. He despatched Grier- 
son immediately : " Close watch must be kept that Forrest does 
not slip by you on some of the roads." 

The vigilant Grierson had already concentrated the larger por- 
tion of his command at La Grange, from which point he could 
move readily towards Bolivar, and throw himself directly in the 
route he presumed Forrest would take from Jackson towards 
Holly Springs, in Mississippi. At daylight on the morning of the 
23d of December he took the further precaution to send Colonel 
Prince with the Seventh Illinois, five hundred effectives, north- 
ward to the Hatchie River, at Bolivar, with orders to follow this 
stream from that point towards the Mississippi River, and destroy 
all the ferryboats and any bridges that might have been over- 
looked.^ Prince arrived at Bolivar at six o'clock in the afternoon 
of the 23d, and sent details up and down the Hatchie to carry 
out the orders of his superior. He learned on his arrival there 
that Forrest's men had taken the ferryboat from Bolivar, and 
that it was concealed in Clover Creek, a tributary of this stream, 

* Official Records, vol. xxxi, part i. p. 607. 
281 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

but upon arriving there, in the hope of destroying this boat, it 
had been removed to Estenaula. Forrest had taken the precau- 
tion to secure this ferryboat, knowing full well that the Federals 
would do everything possible to prevent the passage of his 
command over that stream, thus forcing him to a long detour 
around the head-waters of the Hatchie and Wolf rivers above 
BoHvar and towards Corinth, where he would fall an easy prey 
to the troops which had been stationed along that line for his 
destruction ; but the Confederate leader's native cunning stood 
him well in hand. The boat had been scuttled, and was watched 
by a detachment of his trusted scouts, and it was impossible for 
the Federals to find it. Judging, however, from what he had 
heard, that Forrest would attempt a crossing somewhere in 
the neighborhood of Estenaula, Colonel Prince moved directly 
to that point along the south bank of the Hatchie. He arrived 
just in time to meet with a very serious rebuff at the hands of 
the Confederates, who had stolen a march upon him and were al- 
ready on the south bank of the river at this point. 

When Forrest started on his march southward he had divided 
his command into three separate detachments ; the most impor- 
tant, consisting of the larger portion of his recruits, more than half 
of whom were unarmed, he placed under the command of his 
trusted lieutenant, Colonel Tyree H. Bell, and started them in ad- 
vance with the two pieces of artillery, some forty or fifty wagons 
loaded with very needful supplies, and a drove of several hundred 
beef cattle. Bell pushed on towards Estenaula with as much 
rapidity as the terrible condition of the roads would permit, but 
with the wagons and cattle his progress was necessarily slow. 

As soon as he was well under way, a second detachment, under 
Lieutenant-Colonel D. M. Wisdom, comprising about five hun 
dred armed men, was ordered towards Mifflin and Jack's Creek, 
in a southeasterly direction from Jackson, to dispute the advance 
of another column of the enemy who were coming from that 
quarter. A third detachment, under General Richardson, had 
been sent by a different route a day ahead of Bell's march, with 
directions to reach the Hatchie at or near Estenaula, throw an ad^ 
vance-guard of picked men across this stream, and secure a land 
ing upon the southern side. 

The first collision, which occurred as the Confederates wer 

282 



LIEUTENANTS TYLER AND MORRIS 

moving south, was at daylight on the 24th of December ; and 
while the fighting did not amount to a general engagement of all 
the troops of either side upon the ground, it was at one time quite 
animated. Colonel Wisdom handled his command with ability, 
and so manoeuvred as to give out the impression that there was 
with him a much larger number of troops than he really had, and 
in this way held the enemy in check until the main column, under 
Bell and Forrest, had made good headway in their march to the 
river. 

Once during the day his position was seriously threatened by a 
movement upon his flank and rear, made with considerable bold- 
ness by the Federal commander. He immediately ordered eighty 
picked men, under Lieutenants H. A. Tyler and John O. Morris, 
who were directed to check this advance of the Federal flankers. 
Tyler, the senior lieutenant, was placed in command of this de- 
tachment of Kentuckians. This sturdy fighter, who made a brill- 
iant reputation under the inspiring leadership of Forrest, no 
sooner had his men in line than he gave the order to draw their 
six-shooters and charge. He and Morris, at the head of their re- 
spective squadrons, rode with reckless daring right into the Fed- 
eral line. The firing was exceedingly severe for a few minutes, 
and at such close quarters that the clothing of some of the killed 
and wounded was ignited by the burning powder. 

Lieutenant Morris, while grappling with a Union trooper, their 
horses dashing at full speed along the highway, was mortally 
wounded. He and his antagonist, thrusting the muzzles of their 
pistols against each other, fired almost simultaneously, and both 
fell to the ground mortally hurt. It was brief but bloody work, 
and, as the Federals gave way, the column under Forrest was not 
molested by further pursuit from this direction. 

Wisdom, at nightfall, withdrew his troops, and by a forced 
march joined the main command at daylight on the following 
morning. The rear-guard, under Forrest, following after Bell, had 
also had a sharp collision with a Union column coming up from 
Corinth, not far from Jackson. With his plucky escort the gen- 
eral had succeeded in repulsing this detachment of the enemy, 
and had moved swiftly in the wake of Bell to Estenaula. General 
Richardson, with commendable celerity, had successfully carried 
out his part of the programme. Arriving ahead of Bell at the 

283 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FQRREST 

Hatchie, and raising the sunken boat, he had ferried over that 
portion of his command that had arms, and secured a foothold on 
the south side of the stream. Here also, on the evening of the 
24th, Forrest came up with his escort and crossed over to the 
southern bank. He had no sooner made this junction with Rich- 
ardson than "he was informed that sharp firing had just begun 
about five miles away, in the direction of Bolivar. Colonel Prince's 
Seventh Illinois regiment, on the lookout for ferryboats, had ar- 
rived, as he says in his report, within four and a half miles of Es- 
tenaula, when he came upon the Confederate pickets, and imme- 
diately attacked the advance-guard of the troops under Richardson. 
Driving these back to the Slough Bridge, one and a half miles from 
the Hatchie at Estenaula, his advance was here successfully re- 
sisted. " At this point we were unable to drive them farther. We 
were, however, able to hold our ground without difficulty, and did 
so until 8 P.M." 

Later in the night this officer reports that he was again attacked, 
and it was necessary to retire farther. He marched all night, 
reaching Somerville about daylight. 

The rout of Prince's regiment was the work of that reckless 
body of fighters which formed General Forrest's personal escort. 
They were under the command of Lieutenant Nathan Boone, and 
numbered at this time sixty men. An officer present on this occa- 
sion writes : " When we reached the Hatchie at Estenaula, at dark 
on the 24th, General Richardson's command, which had crossed 
before we arrived, had already been engaged with a column of 
the enemy and had been driven back. The river was very much 
swollen by recent rains, and we had to ferry over in a small boat. 
Reaching the southern side, General Forrest directed General Rich- 
ardson to get together as many men as were available and follow 
him. He ordered an advance-guard of ten men from the escort, 
commanded by Sergeant George L. Cowan, instructing them to 
move down the Memphis road and to keep a sharp lookout for 
the enemy. We moved off briskly, followed closely by Forrest 
and the remainder of the escort, with Richardson's men bringing 
up the rear. About two miles distant from the river we camej 
upon the first Union picket, and as our order was to ride right onj 
and into them until we came upon something that was formidable^! 
we put spurs to our horses and rode as fast as the flying picket couldj 

284 







CAPTAIN NATHAN BOONE 
Commanding Forrest's Escort 



STAMPEDING THE ENEMY 

We went pell-mell into the reserve, about forty strong, but were 
so close upon them and going at such great speed that we could 
not check up in time to avoid a collision even had we so desired. 
Taken by surprise, and evidently thinking we were more numer- 
ous than we really were, they also broke and ran towards their 
main camp. We soon saw, just in our front, their camp-fires scat- 
tered on both sides of the road, and slowed up for a minute or 
two, until General Forrest arrived with the balance of the es- 
cort under command of Lieutenant Nathan Boone. He at once 
directed the entire escort, under Boone, to go forward and recon- 
noitre the camp while he brought up Richardson's brigade. As 
we moved forward to the edge of a corn-field towards the enemy's 
camp. Lieutenant Boone, with the reckless daring which was so 
characteristic of him, determined to take matters into his own 
hands, and, forming us into as long a line as we could be stretched 
into, there being about ten paces between each member of the 
escort, he told us he was going to charge into that camp, no mat- 
ter what it cost ; that he wanted each one of the lieutenants and 
sergeants to give orders as if commanding a company, and in as 
loud a voice as possible, and when all were ready he would give 
the order to charge. In the mean time we could see by their 
camp-fires that they were in considerable disorder, trying to 
mount their horses and forming in line. At this moment Boone 
gave the order, 'Forward, brigade; charge!' and we swept 
across the corn-field, making a tremendous racket. It was a clear, 
frosty night, and as our horses' feet trampled the corn-stalks 
down they made noise enough, with the yells we were giving, to 
represent at least a regiment. The Federals evidently believed 
that we were upon them in force, for they broke and ran in great 
disorder. We dashed through the camp, and though many of us 
would have liked to have stopped and helped ourselves from the 
pots of meat that were on the fire, we kept on after the enemy. It 
must have been at least two miles beyond the camp before the pur- 
suit was stopped." 

All through the bitter cold night Colonel Bell and his faithful 
soldiers, with tireless energy, were ferrying the wagons and their 
precious loads, and the two guns of Morton's artillery, across the 
swollen stream. With the exception of one teamster who was 
drowned, with the two horses attached to his wagon, by an up- 

285 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

setting of the boat in one of the trips, by daylight of the 25th 
everything was safe on the southern bank Forrest was now with 
his entire command across the first real obstacle in his march back 
to Mississippi, but this Christmas week — as was the one of the pre- 
ceding year in this same section of Tennessee — was to be full of 
danger and perplexity. On all sides he was confronted by a host 
of Federal troops, well mounted, well armed, and in the main 
bravely and well ofificered. A strong detachment was placed at 
Bolivar, while others were posted southward from this point as 
far as Grand Junction, closing in the line of escape between the 
head-waters of the Hatchie and Wolf rivers. They had him now 
penned in between these two streams, and as the bridges had al- 
ready been destroyed, and as Wolf River, which, rising near Boli- 
var, flows due west into the Mississippi at Memphis, was at this 
season of the year very deep and could in no place be forded, 
the Federal commander congratulated himself that at last he had 
the famous raider in the toils. Moreover, large bodies of infantry 
were stationed along the line of the Memphis and Charleston rail- 
road from Collierville as far east as Corinth, while at Grand Junction 
and at Collierville heavy detachments of troops were kept night 
and day upon capacious trains, the engines of which, with steam 
up, were ready at a moment's notice to transport these soldiers to 
any required point. Although the torch had been applied to 
every bridge in the entire length of Wolf River, Forrest, before 
quitting Jackson, received a bit of information which was invalu- 
able to him in the present emergency. Colonel Thomas H. Log- 
wood, a devoted friend, and a man of great personal courage, had 
ventured into the section of Tennessee immediately north of Mem- 
phis on recruiting duty for his regiment, and while thus engaged 
he heard that General Forrest was near Jackson. He had dis- 
covered that near Lafayette station, on the Memphis and Charles- 
ton railroad, there was a bridge over Wolf River which had been 
only partially destroyed, the fire having consumed but a single 
span. As the detachment sent to burn it had not waited to 
see it entirely consumed, the fire had been extinguished before 
the string-timbers were materially weakened. He sent a trust- 
ed messenger to General Forrest with this information, telling 
him that it could be quickly repaired and used for conveying 
his troops across should he desire to escape by that route. To 

286 



Jl 



THE ACTION NEAR SOMERVILLE 

Colonel Bell was intrusted the important and dangerous duty of 
selecting three hundred of his best men and going in advance 
of the train and remainder of his troops, driving away any de- 
tachment of Federals which might be near at hand, effecting a 
lodgment on the southern bank, and placing the bridge in con- 
dition for the rapid crossing of the troops and train when these 
should arrrive. 

It will be remembered that on Christmas night Colonel Prince's 
Illinois cavalry had been driven from the neighborhood of Es- 
tenaula in the direction of Somerville, and on the following day 
General Forrest at an early hour took up his line of march on 
their trail. General Richardson's command had preceded him by 
another route, and between four and five o'clock in the after- 
noon, about four miles from Newcastle, in the vicinity of Somer- 
ville, had come in collision with the Federal cavalry. As General 
Forrest approached with his escort and a detachment of McDon- 
ald's battalion, he immediately took command, and, throwing the 
unarmed as well as the armed men of Richardson's detachment 
in line of battle, in order to present a more formidable appear- 
ance, they moved forward upon the enemy, who, however, did 
not give way until after a serious struggle, in which several Con- 
federates were killed or wounded. Among the latter was Lieu- 
tenant Boone, and this brave officer lost a younger brother, first 
sergeant of the escort, who was killed here. The result of this 
affair maybe inferred from the official report of Colonel Prince, who 
says : " The enemy having gained our rear, we were compelled to 
retire, and, owing to the broken character of the ground, in con- 
siderable disorder. The loss the enemy sustained in killed and 
wounded must have exceeded our entire loss, which will not ex- 
ceed forty killed, wounded, and missing." 

General Forrest reports that here he killed and wounded eight 
or ten, and captured thirty-five prisoners. The detachment under 
Colonel Prince did not further molest him on the retreat. 

At daybreak on the morning of the 27th, the advance, under the 
energetic leadership of Colonel Bell, had reached the burned bridge 
at Lafayette, and, advancing under cover of a dense wood, had sue- 
ceeded in crossing on the unburned string-timbers, and had sur- 
prised and driven off the small body of Federals that had just taken 
a position a short distance from the southern end of the bridge. It 

287 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

was only the work of an hour or two to relay the flooring of the 
bridge, and by the time the Confederate column came up it passed 
without delay over Wolf River and continued without interrup- 
tion on the road towards Holly Springs, in Mississippi. The cross- 
ing at Lafayette was entirely unexpected by General Hurlbut, who 
had not dreamed that the Confederate leader would have the au- 
dacity to venture with his unarmed mob and his wagons and drove 
of cattle to the door of his headquarters and within sound of the 
large garrison at Memphis. It was, indeed, a bold stroke, and one 
of the cleverest pieces of strategy which he practised during the 
war. Had he marched out through the open country by Bolivar 
or Purdy or Corinth, he would have been overwhelmed, for in this 
direction he was expected ; but Forrest, as a rule, did what was 
least expected. Still further to throw Hurlbut off the scent, he 
ordered Colonel Faulkner to proceed to Memphis and to attack 
the pickets within the suburbs of that city, and, if hard pressed, 
to escape by way of Hernando. The Federal general was non- 
plussed by the audacity of this movement, and only too late 
learned that Forrest's main column and train, having seized 
the bridge at Lafayette, had repaired it and crossed, and was 
already south of the Memphis and Charleston railroad. Before 
reaching this highway of commerce, his advance-guard had al- 
ready placed obstructions upon the track two miles on either 
side of the point at which he proposed to cross it, and in this way 
the approach of the trains loaded with troops was prevented. In 
the darkness of the night they were compelled to remain without 
attacking, and by daylight the Confederates were miles away. 
Forrest, in his report, says the last fight took place at Collierville, 
about eight o'clock at night, at which point he drove the enemy 
into their fortifications and passed on to the south. 

General Hurlbut, on the 28th of December, wired Sherman : 
" Forrest, after having been driven from the neighborhood of 
Jackson, has eluded Grierson, and crossed the railroad last night" 

Colonel W. H. Morgan, who did not pass entirely without cen- 
sure for his failure to intercept the Confederates on the 29th, 
wired to his commander the doleful doxology, " Forrest is certain- 
ly far away." On this same day the Confederate chieftain reached 
Holly Springs and reported to his superior, General S. D. Lee, 
that he had arrived there safely with the greater portion of his 

288 



AT WORK REORGANIZING AGAIN 

troops, regretting very much that he had to leave Tennessee so 
early. He reported to the Adjutant-General at Richmond that he 
had come out of west Tennessee with about three thousand troops, 
fragments of sixteen different commands, with companies varying 
from fifteen to thirty-five men each. " I can see no way of mak- 
ing these troops effective, except by an order from the War De- 
partment annulling all authority previously given to raise troops, 
accompanied with the order to consolidate into full companies and 
regiments all the troops that can be gotten together in west Ten- 
nessee and north Mississippi. By adopting this method, I can get 
six full regiments of cavalry of about four thousand men. The 
balance would have to be conscripted. I think with this cavalry 
organized I can conscript ten thousand men and place them in 
the service." 

On the 24th of January the Secretary of War acceded to his 
request, and he was directed to organize these troops, following 
the plan he had submitted. It began to look as if Forrest was 
about to receive some recognition at Richmond. Elsewhere the 
escape from the net-work which had been woven around him re- 
ceived considerable comment. A correspondent of a Northern 
paper, writing from Memphis, January 12, 1864, says: "Forrest, 
with less than four thousand men, has moved right through the 
Sixteenth Army Corps, has passed within nine miles of Memphis, 
carried off a hundred wagons, two hundred beef cattle, three 
thousand conscripts, and innumerable stores ; torn up railroad- 
tracks, destroyed telegraph-wires, burned and sacked towns, ran 
over pickets with a single derringer pistol, and all in the face of 
ten thousand men."* 

♦ Campaigns of General N. B. Forrest. 



CHAPTER XIII 

MERIDIAN EXPEDITION 

Sherman's Expedition from Vicksburg to Meridian — The Cavalry Corps under Gen- 
eral William Sooy Smith Marches from Memphis to Co-operate with Sherman — 
Proposed Invasion of Alabama and Capture of Mobile by Generals Grant and 
Sherman — Forrest with His New Levies Retires Before Smith to the Sakatonchee 
— Engages Him There — Smith Retreats — Is Pursued by Forrest, who Defeats Him 
at West Point, and Again at Okolona — Pursued Relentlessly for Sixty Miles — 
Death of Colonel Jeffrey Forrest — Capture of General Smith's Artillery— McCul- 
loch to the Rescue— Death of Colonel Barksdale. 

HAVING captured Vicksburg, and thus completed the pos- 
session of the Mississippi River, General Grant had no 
sooner cut the Confederacy in twain than he determined 
to attempt a further subdivision of the eastern half of the 
southern country by a movement of the army under Sherman 
from Mississippi and west Tennessee into Alabama for the capt- 
ure of Selma and Mobile. 

In the early days of January, 1864, he and Sherman, the Da- 
mon and Pythias of the Union hosts, had put their heads together 
in formulating a plan for the accomplishment of this end. The offi- 
cial records point clearly to the intention of the campaign which 
was instituted in February of this year. After it was all over, and 
had, as a result of the genius of Forrest, failed in its ultimate pur- 
pose. General Sherman, in his official reports, published then, and 
in his Memoirs, written several years after the war, endeavored 
to convey to the mind of the reader that the object of his enter- 
prise was fully attained in the destruction of the railroads at and 
near Meridian. 

While it is true that General Sherman was given a wide discre- 
tion to act as his judgment might suggest after he started out 
upon his campaign, there can be no doubt in the mind of the 
close student of the records that it was the joint intention of 
Grant and himself not only to reach Meridian, but to go farther 

290 



OBJECT OF THE MERIDIAN EXPEDITION 

if possible, destroy the founderies and arsenals which were sup- 
plying the Confederate armies from Selma, and, still further, to 
secure the seaport of Mobile, the value of which, as estimated by 
the Federal authorities, was ultimately shown in the desperate 
battle fought by Farragut for its capture. 

As early as January 6, 1864, General Sherman, in a letter to 
Grant, says : " General W. S. Smith is supposed to be crossing 
the Tennessee to-day. I will aim to reinforce him with cavalry, 
and with infantry occupy the attention of the enemy, so as to en- 
able him to reach Meridian, and, if possible, Selma." * Six days 
later he reverts to the same theme in a communication addressed 
to General Halleck at Washington : " I think by the 24th I can 
make up a force of twenty thousand men to strike Meridian, and, 
it may be, Selma." 

On the 15th of January General Grant also addressed to Hal- 
leck, in Washington, a despatch as follows : " I shall direct Sher- 
man to move out to Meridian with his force — the cavalry going 
from Corinth — and destroy the roads east and south so effectually 
that the enemy will not attempt to rebuild them during the re- 
bellion ; he will then return, unless the opportunity of getting into 
Mobile with the force appears perfectly plain!' \ 

General S. A. Hurlbut also admits in the records : " I am or- 
dered by Major-General Sherman to draw in my entire line of 
cavalry and all my available force, and proceed on the expedition 
south, towards, and probably to, Selma." 

General Grant, in a letter to General Thomas, dated on the iQth"^ 
of January, directing him to co-operate with Sherman in this en- 
terprise by a movement from Chattanooga upon the army of 
Johnston at Dalton, says that Sherman is to proceed to Meridian, 
and, if possible, as far east as Selma, " or, if he finds Mobile so far 
unguarded as to make his force sufficient for the enterprise, he will 
go there." % 

The plan finally adopted was that General Sherman should con- 
centrate at Vicksburg, during the month of January, 1864, an 
army of twenty thousand effective troops, and march thence at a 

* Official Records, vol. xxxii. part ii. p. 36. 
+ Ibid. p. 100. (Italics not in original.) 

X Life of General Leonidas Polk, vol. ii. p. 298 (Longmans, Green & 
Co., 1894). 

291 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

given time eastward through Jackson, direct to Meridian, which 
point is near the Alabama State line and only a short distance 
west of Selma. To co-operate with this movement from Vicks- 
burg, and to unite with it at Meridian, a large cavalry force was to 
proceed from Memphis in a direction a little east of south, travers- 
ing the State of Mississippi, destroying the Mobile and Ohio rail- 
road from Corinth down to Meridian, at the same time spreading 
devastation in all that rich section of the South by burning the 
granaries, gin-houses, and all the cotton that could be found. They 
were to spread through the country as they passed a proclamation 
inviting the negroes to leave their masters and homes, and bring 
with them what live-stock they could, and follow in the wake of 
the invading army. Uniting ultimately at Meridian, the combined 
army of invasion was to proceed at its leisure for the capture of 
Selma, the destruction of the arsenals and founderies there, and 
thence march to Mobile, which seaport they would open to the 
navies of the United States. General Sherman reports:"! or- 
dered all the effective cavalry at once to be assembled and got 
ready for the field; there were ready for duty at Memphis 9231 
cavalry, with 7638 serviceable horses. This force, with the 2500 
brought with General Smith, gave us over ten thousand effective 
cavalrymen and horses."* 

On or before the ist of February, with an active force of seven 
thousand cavalry, lightly equipped and furnished with the most 
thoroughly effective weapons which the wealth of the United States 
could purchase, General William Sooy Smith, selected by General 
Grant for his special fitness to command such an important expedi- 
tion, was directed to leave Memphis, march to Meridian direct, go- 
ing by way of Pontotoc, Okolona, Columbus Junction, and Macon ; 
the distance being about two hundred and fifty miles, it was com- 
puted that he would reach there about the loth of February. Gen- 
eral Sherman moved out of Vicksburg, with his army of twenty 
thousand troops, on the 3d of February, his command divided into 
two columns, which moved eastward along parallel routes. It is 
somewhat singular, since the co-operation of Smith was deemed 
by Sherman so essential to the success of this campaign, that he 
did not inform himself as to the certainty of Smith's departure in 

* Official Records, vol. xxxii. part i. p. 174. 
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GENERAL SHERMAN REACHES MERIDIAN 

time to effect the junction agreed upon. Telegraphic commu- 
nication was open between Vicksburg and Memphis; General 
Smith was still in this portion of the world when Sherman sal- 
lied forth on the 3d of February, and could easily have told his su- 
perior that he was not ready to start, and at the same time have 
informed him of the date when he would put his troops in motion. 
It would have been better for the full success of his project had 
Sherman waited four or five days until Smith could get ready, or, 
not wishing to tarry longer in Vicksburg, to have ordered him to go 
ahead without waiting for Waring's brigade (which was the reason 
of his long delay). Without this small brigade, the cavalry, prop- 
erly handled, would still have been strong enough to have fought 
its way to Sherman, at Meridian, on time. Nevertheless, on the 
3d of February, General Sherman started with his force, and, meet- 
ing with a resistance so slight as scarcely to cut him short of a 
single full day's march, went through to Meridian, arriving there 
at 3.30 P.M. on the 14th of February. Halting here, his command 
was busy with the destruction of the railroads and other public 
property in this section of country until the 20th of the month. 
Then, *' hearing nothing whatever of General Smith, I ordered 
McPherson to move back slowly on the main road, while I 
moved towards the north to feel for General Smith." On the 
23d Sherman was at Hillsborough, in Scott County, Mississippi, 
and thence he moved westward to Canton, where his army re- 
mained until the 3d of March, still hoping against hope that Smith 
might come to him. Then, finally despairing, his troops were or- 
dered to return to Vicksburg. 

General Smith did not start with his portion of the expedition un- 
til the nth day of February. About the ist of this month he had 
concentrated his command at Collierville, a station on the Mem- 
phis and Charleston railroad, near the northern boundary-line of 
Mississippi, some twenty-five miles eastward of Memphis. Instead 
of pushing on, as he was expected to do by his superior, with the 
troops he had in hand, with a hesitation which characterized him 
at times he wasted day after day awaiting the arrival of a sin- 
gle small brigade commanded by Colonel George E. Waring, Jr., 
which had been ordered to join him from Columbus, Kentucky. 

Waring was making every effort to reach Collierville, but the 
fates were against him. The rivers and creeks which traverse 

293 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

west Tennessee were swollen, the cold winter weather had caused 
the ice to form, not strong enough to bear up under horse or 
man, but sufficiently thick and heavy to interfere with swimming 
or crossing in the small ferryboats which are common to this sec- 
tion. Even when the weather moderated, the muddy bottoms of 
the Obion and the Hatchie had rendered his progress so slow 
that it was noon of February 8th when the head of his column 
of worn-out men and horses reached Collierville. Even after the 
arrival of Waring, with a strange fatality General Smith still lin- 
gered nearly three days more, waiting for Colonel Waring to have 
his horses shod and to give his troops time to recuperate from 
the severe ordeal through which they had passed. He says : " At 
last, by great effort, the whole command was prepared for the 
movement, and put in motion on the nth day of February." 
Upon this day he marched out of Collierville at the head of seven 
thousand picked cavalry, armed with Colt's repeating- rifles, mod- 
ern carbines, and army revolvers — in all probability the most 
formidable cavalry command which had ever been organized in 
the Western armies. 

There went with it twenty pieces of artillery, and, as a part of 
the initial movement, a brigade of infantry, under an efficient 
commander. Colonel William L. McMillen. General Smith knew 
that Forrest would be in his path, and believed at this time that 
he had his forces scattered along the south bank of the Talla- 
hatchie River awaiting his advance. In order to effect the cross- 
ing of this stream without serious opposition, he had called in the 
aid of this brigade of infantry. McMillen had preceded Smith's 
advance, having reached Hernando, due south of Memphis, on 
the 7th. On the 9th he had taken Senatobia, and on the 13th, 
having skirmished almost incessantly with Forrest's videttes, he 
reached the Tallahatchie at Wyatt, advancing as far as this point 
for the purpose of making a diversion in favor of General Smith. 

In the mean time, in order to produce the impression that he 
would cross the Tallahatchie at that point, while holding McMil- 
len's infantry engaged with the Confederates across the river at 
Wyatt, Smith had also marched from Collierville in that direc- 
tion. Turning suddenly to the west, he then moved with his en- 
tire cavalry column by way of New Albany, in Union County, 
Mississippi, where, on the i6th and 17th, his troops crossed with- 

294 



II 




COLONEL ROBERT MCCULLOCH 
Second Missouri Cavalry, Commanding Brigade 



HOW DESERTIONS WERE CHECKED 

out molestation to the south bank of this stream. Smith had al- 
ready written to General Sherman that he thought Forrest would 
show fight between the Coldwater and the Tallahatchie, and he 
had promised his superior that he would pitch into him where- 
ever he found him. 

For two weeks following his escape from west Tennessee with 
his new levies, Forrest, who on the 4th day of December, 1863, 
had been promoted to the rank of major-general, had busied him- 
self in organizing and perfecting the discipline of his troops. He 
found this no easy task. It required all the energy, tact, and 
good sense which he possessed to consolidate into companies and 
regiments the various fragments of commands and organizations 
these recruits represented. Naturally the men desired to keep over 
them the officers they had elected, and, as far as this could be made 
consistent with the good of the service, Forrest permitted it, but in 
many instances his better judgment told him that this was imprac- 
ticable. Then, by persuasion or force, they were merged into other 
companies under new officers, or scattered in squads of half a doz- 
en or more among the older companies which had already seen ser- 
vice under some of his trusted subordinates. As a result of these 
labors four skeleton brigades were formed. The first was placed 
under Brigadier-General R. V. Richardson, numbering about fif- 
teen hundred rank and file ; the second, about twelve hundred 
effectives, was placed under Colonel Robert McCulloch ; the third, 
two thousand strong, under General Tyree H. Bell ; and the fourth, 
one thousand rank and file, under Colonel Jeffrey E. Forrest, 
brother of the general. McCulloch's and Forrest's brigades con- 
stituted a single division, over which General James R. Chalmers 
was placed. Such was the influence exercised by this remark- 
able man over the restless class with which he was now dealing 
that only a very small number deserted his standard.* To nip 
this evil in the bud Forrest had provided by placing a cor- 
don of his most reliable troops across the roads leading north- 
ward. Taking advantage of the darkness of night, about twenty 

* A majority of these recruits were men who had either served for one 
year in the Confederate army, and, having refused to enlist for the war, had 
sought refuge from conscription within the Union lines, or, for reasons satis- 
factory to themselves, were absent without leave. 

295 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

malecontents slipped away and started full tilt for their native coun- 
try. They were arrested, brought back in a body, paraded through 
the camp as deserters, a court-martial was summoned, and they 
were tried and condemned to be shot. Whether Forrest, in order 
to exert a healthy influence upon the balance of his troops, had 
determined to make an example of these men, or whether he 
merely intended to frighten them for this offence, was known 
only to himself. In any event, they were condemned to be shot, 
placed in wagons, each one seated upon a cofifin, and in solemn 
fashion were driven to the place of execution. Before their 
open graves the sentence of the court was read, and they were 
given a few minutes for prayer. There was not one of them who 
was not now convinced that his hour had come. Just as the prayer 
was ended and the soldiers were about to take their place to fire 
the fatal volley, Forrest rode to the spot and announced to the 
offenders that if they would promise to serve as faithful soldiers 
of the Confederacy he would pardon them for this offence ; but 
that if any further desertions or disobedience of orders occurred 
in his command he would not again show such leniency. 

Preparation on the part of the enemy for the cavalry expedi- 
tion from Memphis was now well known to the Confederate com- 
mander. On the 6th of February, five days before Smith started, 
Forrest informed Chalmers of the impending movement from Col- 
lierville, and directed him to send twenty reliable men well to his 
front to watch the enemy. On the 8th he informed General Ghol- 
son, commanding the State militia, that McMillen's column was 
moving on the Hernando road, and he adds in one of his despatch- 
es of this date : " They will move in two columns, one by Panola to 
Grenada, the other by New Albany and Pontotoc, towards Oko- 
lona." With remarkable prevision he had judged the routes the 
enemy would take. On the i6th he informed General Polk that 
the destination of the expedition was a junction with Sherman; 
that they were about ten thousand strong, with some thirty pieces 
of artillery, and had crossed the river at New Albany. As Smith 
advanced, Forrest, who had withdrawn south of the Tallahatchie, 
posted small detachments of his troops to watch the crossings of 
this stream, while with Bell's brigade he retired in the direction 
of Grenada. The remainder of his troops were ordered through 
Houston in the direction of West Point and Columbus. Forrest 

296 



RETREATING BEFORE GENERAL SMITH 

pushed rapidly across the country from Grenada to Starkville, 
where he arrived on the i8th of February. Jeffrey Forrest, with 
his brigade, was now directed to proceed in a northerly direction 
in the route along which Smith was marching, and to oppose his 
advance sufficiently to develop his strength and purposes. While 
Forrest was convinced that Okolona would be an important 
point in Smith's raid, he was uncertain whether the Union gen- 
eral would turn eastward across the Tombigbee River to reach 
Columbus, or would attempt the passage of the Sakatonchee near 
West Point, and march by way of Artesia towards Meridian. He 
therefore took the precaution to post Bell's brigade along the 
Tombigbee to arrest any movement in that direction. 

The march of the invaders thus far had been uneventful. No 
obstacles had been encountered save at the crossing of the Tippah, 
a narrow stream with treacherous bottom, which, being swollen, 
delayed General Smith nearly two days until a bridge could be 
constructed. Occasionally the rifles of the advance-guard and some 
Confederate outposts or stray scouts cracked away at each other in 
noisy fashion, but the Southerners were not yet ready, and took 
good care to scurry away to longer range. When within ten miles 
of Houston, in Chickasaw County, the Federal advance-guard came 
upon a squadron of General Gholson's State militia, which with 
their shot-guns and squirrel rifles delivered a volley, and then, as 
General Smith says in his report, " retired precipitately." These, he 
further says, he brushed away, and continued to advance until he 
encountered the enemy in stronger force, guarding the crossing of 
a swamp which could only be passed by a corduroy-road which 
was narrow and about a mile in length. Some sharp fighting oc- 
curred here, which was finally overcome and the crossing made. 
Three miles north of Houston the roads again entered the slashes, 
too miry for flanking, and the causeway dangerously narrow for a 
direct advance. As Gholson's partisans were gathered in force at 
the southerly end, the Union commander concluded not to at- 
tempt the passage, and turned back for several miles, until he 
struck a road which led eastward towards Okolona, and thither 
he marched. From Okolona he passed almost due southward and 
here entered the prairie country, the rich corn-producing section 
of Mississippi, which was baptized during the Civil War " The 
Land of Egypt." One object of his expedition was the devas- 

297 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

tation of this granary, and corn-cribs, gin-houses, cotton, homes, 
and everything which could support or protect life went up in 
smoke or settled in ashes in the wake of the diligent detachments 
which shot out from the main column for miles on either side of 
the line of march. 

At Prairie station, about fifteen miles north of West Point, 
General Smith concentrated his entire command, and on the 20th 
of February moved towards that place. The Union column had 
proceeded only five miles when the advance-guard was vigorously 
assailed, and came back in some confusion on the leading regi- 
ment. He had encountered something more than Gholson's mi- 
litia. It turned out to be Colonel Jeffrey Forrest's brigade, which 
had been sent in this direction, and was found here in line of bat- 
tle and in plain view across the prairie. There were not many of 
them, but they were not to be run over without a fight, for the 
younger brother had not only the courage but a good share of 
the ability which the general possessed. The Federal commander 
formed to attack, and threw out his flankers to gain the Confed- 
erate rear. A short, sharp fight occurred, and when about to be 
overlapped on the flanks Colonel Forrest retreated in the direc- 
tion of West Point, through which place, after offering resistance 
at every available position along the way, he passed, at three 
o'clock on the afternoon of the 20th, the Federal army immedi- 
ately occupying the town. 

From West Point, Jeffrey Forrest continued his retreat some 
three miles southward to the Sakatonchee Creek at Ellis's Bridge. 
Major D. E. Coon, who commanded the Second Iowa Cavalry, 
which formed the advance-guard in the march from Prairie station 
to West Point, and which command was armed with Colt's re- 
peating-rifles and " navy sixes," says that five miles beyond Prairie 
station to the south they came in contact with the Confederates, 
and skirmished with them for five miles.* He then ran into a 
column of about two hundred and fifty, which gave way before a 
charge made by a portion of his regiment. The Confederates still 
skirmished with them for some three miles farther, when another 
stand was made, compelling Major Coon to dismount his men, in 
order to drive the Southern troopers from the field. He says:] 

* Official Records, vol. xxxii. part i. p. 298. 
298 




COLONKl. JKI-KKKV K. lORKEST 
Cdminaiidiiig llrigade 



GENERAL SMITH RETREATS 

" This was not done, however, without the loss of Lieutenant 
Dwyer, killed, and four men wounded. On reaching West Point 
it was ascertained that the three Forrests — the general, the colo- 
nel, and the captain — had just left and passed west, crossing the 
Sakatonchee, some three miles distant." This officer reports 
that, up to the time of reaching West Point, the largest force 
encountered at any time was two hundred and fifty or three hun- 
dred men. "Having had the advance during the entire day of 
the 20th, I had good opportunities for gathering information of 
the location and numbers of Forrest's command, and at no time 
placed the force at the Sakatonchee Bridge above two thousand 
men, and this force without artillery."* 

Arriving at West Point on the 20th of February, General 
William Sooy Smith found himself in great perplexity, and it is 
not improbable that the fact that he was now at last face to face 
with the redoubtable Forrest had something to do with his "state 
of mind." The man whom he had, as he expressed himself, been 
anxiously looking for and ready to " pitch into wherever he found 
him " was at last directly across his path. Although he had ac- 
complished considerably more than half of the distance from Mem- 
phis to Meridian, and General Sherman was still within reach of 
him, he hesitated and was lost. Three or four days of energetic 
marching would have brought him to Sherman's camp, between 
Meridian and Canton. In this hope Sherman's army lingered in 
the neighborhood until the 6th of March. Smith says he made a 
careful reconnaissance of the Sakatonchee swamp and the cross- 
ings of the various streams in that neighborhood, and they were 
all found strongly held by the enemy. Exaggerated statements 
of the strength of Forrest's command had been brought to him, 
and for this the Confederate leader was of course responsible. It 
was an invariable part of Forrest's strategy in every campaign to 
impress upon his enemy the idea that he had a force very much 
larger than he actually commanded. 

General Smith says : " It was reported that Lee was about to 
reinforce Forrest with a portion or the whole of his command"; 
and to add to his discomfiture and increase his responsibilities, 
about three thousand negroes, whom he had induced to desert 

* Official Records, vol. xxxii. part i. p. 298. 
299 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

their owners, had taken refuge with his troops, mounted on as 
many horses and mules brought in with them. These formed a 
serious impediment to his progress. "The ground was so ob- 
structed as to make it absolutely necessary that we should fight 
dismounted, and for this kind of fighting the enemy, armed with 
Enfield and Austrian rifles, was better prepared than our force, 
armed mainly with carbines." * Strangest of all his excuses, after 
carefully selecting this command, he says: "There was but one 
of my brigades that I could rely upon with full confidence." 

General Forrest had been directed by his superiors. Generals 
Polk and S. D. Lee, to retire in front of Smith's advance, in order 
to draw him as far as possible from his base at Memphis, and then 
to turn upon him and endeavor to destroy him. To retire in 
front of the enemy was one of the most difificult things for For- 
rest to do, but on this occasion he was making a tremendous 
effort to accomplish it. He says in his report that he offered 
some opposition to Smith's advance at the crossing of the Saka- 
tonchee, for the reason that he wanted to protect this one bridge 
and hold it intact, so that he could cross his command rapidly 
in the pursuit when he should ultimately drive him towards 
Memphis. 

The Union commander, however, had no intention of attempt- 
ing to cross this Rubicon. In the crucial moment his heart failed 
him. On the morning of the 21st Major Coon, of the Second 
Iowa Cavalry, was directed to take his command and make a 
demonstration against the Confederates stationed in front of 
Ellis's Bridge, while the remainder of the Federal column wo^uld 
begin the retreat from West Point by way of Okolona. 

On the night of the 20th General Forrest had stationed his 
troops along the southern bank of the Sakatonchee, at Ellis's 
Bridge. The brigade of Jeffrey Forrest was left on the northern 
side of this stream, about a half-mile from the bridge. During 
the night this careful officer busied himself in throwing up tem- 
porary breastworks of rails and logs for the protection of his 
men and to strengthen his position for the fight which he antici- 
pated would take place on the ensuing morning. At a late hour 
in the night General Forrest was informed that a column of Fed- 

* Official reports. 
300 



ENGAGEMENT AT ELLISS BRIDGE 

eral cavalry had crossed the Sakatonchee at a point some four 
miles distant from Ellis's Bridge, and were destroying houses and 
barns and property in that direction. He at once ordered his 
escort and a picked body of men to mount their horses, and, plac- 
ing himself at their head, he came suddenly upon the raiders, 
and, getting between them and the bridge over which they had 
crossed, captured the entire party, consisting of about thirty troop- 
ers of the Fourth United States Regulars. He then returned to 
Ellis's Bridge, where early on Sunday morning, the 21st of Feb- 
ruary, he was informed by Colonel Jeffrey Forrest that the Fed- 
erals were advancing upon his position from the direction of West 
Point. He was ordered to hold his ground stubbornly, and to 
retire across Ellis's Bridge only when forced to do so by over- 
whelming numbers. Major D. E. Coon, commanding the Federal 
troops, dismounted four rifle companies of his regiment, threw 
them out as skirmishers, brought forward two twelve -pounder 
howitzers, and these were soon briskly engaged with Jeffrey For- 
rest's force. For an hour and a half the firing continued briskly, 
but the younger Forrest held his position, and about ten o'clock 
in the morning the Federals ceased firing and disappeared tow- 
ards West Point. Major Coon said in his report that Forrest 
had no artillery in front of him, and that he was convinced that 
the Union troops were at least four to one of the Confederates. 

While this skirmish was in progress an incident occurred which 
is worthy of narration, since it gives something of an insight into 
one phase of Forrest's character, and serves to illustrate one of the 
various methods he pursued in controlling the men in his com- 
mand. While the firing on the northern bank of the Sakatonchee 
was at its fiercest, General Chalmers, seated upon his horse, had 
taken a position on the south bank of the creek, near the short 
bridge over that stream. He had but recently been attached to 
Forrest's command, and had never before been with him under 
fire. He says: "I had considerable curiosity to observe General 
Forrest, but up to nine o'clock that morning he had not appeared 
upon the scene. Suddenly, out of a cloud of dust, accompanied 
by an orderly, he came dashing up the road towards the bridge. 
As he approached me and reined up his horse I noticed that his 
face was greatly flushed, and that he seemed very much more ex- 
cited than I thought was necessary under the circumstances. In 

301 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

rather a harsh, quick tone he asked me what the condition of af- 
fairs was at the front. As I had not been on the firing-line, and 
did not know anything definite excepting that the firing indicated 
quite a severe skirmish, I replied that Colonel Forrest had reported 
nothing to me beyond the fact that there was some skirmishing 
going on at the front, and added that I thought it was not a very 
severe affair. Forrest said quickly, and with evident impatience : 
' Is that all you know? Then I'll go there and find out for myself.' 
It was about four hundred yards from the bridge to where Jeffrey 
Forrest was in line, and a portion of the Federal advance had now 
reached a position where their shots were falling pretty thick in 
the road, and where they could readily fire at any one crossing on the 
bridge. Even as we were conversing the bullets were falling about 
us, and I thought, even there, we were unnecessarily exposed ; but 
as General Forrest and his orderly dashed across the bridge (it 
seemed to me then in a spirit of bravado), I followed him, more out 
of curiosity to observe him than for any definite purpose. As we 
galloped over the bridge and up the road the enemy's skirmishers 
singled us out and commenced firing directly at us. We had pro- 
ceeded not more than a hundred yards in the direction of the 
skirmishers when I noticed, coming at full tilt towards us from 
that direction a Confederate soldier, who, dismounted and hatless, 
had thrown away his gun and everything else that could impede 
his rapid flight to the rear. He was badly demoralized and evi- 
dently panic-stricken. As he approached General Forrest, the lat- 
ter checked up his horse, dismounted quickly, threw the bridle- 
reins to the orderly who accompanied him, and, rushing at the 
demoralized soldier, seized him by the collar, threw him down, 
dragged him to the side of the road, and, picking up a piece of 
brush that was convenient, proceeded to give him one of the 
worst thrashings I have ever seen a human being get. The terror 
and surprise of the frightened Confederate at this unexpected 
turn in affairs, at a point where he thought he had reached safety, 
were as great as to me they were laughable. He offered no re- 
sistance, and was wise in this discretion, for the general was one 
of the most powerful men I ever saw, and could easily have 
whipped him in a free-for-all encounter. At last he turned him 
loose, faced him again in the direction of his comrades, and thun- 
dered at him : ' Now, damn you, go back to the front and 

302 



CLOSING IN ON GENERAL SMITH 

fight : you might as well be killed there as here, for if you ever 
run away again you will not get off so easy.' It is unnecessary 
to say that the poor fellow marched back and took his place in 
line, a wiser if not a braver man. The news of this incident 
spread rapidly through the command and even through the South- 
ern army, and, almost as soon, it appeared in one of the Northern 
periodicals of this time, which came out in illustrated form, and 
was entitled, " Forrest breaking in a conscript." 

Colonel Waring, in his entertaining book, writing of this cam- 
paign, says: " Forrest was in our front with about our own num- 
ber of cavalry, but without artillery, of which we had twenty good 
pieces. The open country was good fighting ground, and gave to 
our better drilled and more completely organized force a decided 
advantage, even without our great odds in artillery. Could we 
effect a junction with Sherman, we should enable him to divide 
the Confederacy from Vicksburg to Atlanta. No sooner had we 
turned tail than Forrest saw his time had come, and he pressed 
us sorely all day and until nightfall."* 

The moment that Colonel Forrest reported that the Federals 
were retiring from his front the general became convinced that 
they had commenced a systematic retreat, and that the fight made 
here was simply for the purpose of gaining time. He at once or- 
dered Captain H. A. Tyler, who had won his spurs in the spirited 
dash at Jack's Creek, to take his own company and one other 
company of Faulkner's Twelfth Kentucky, numbering in all one 
hundred and fifty men, and to push on in the direction taken by 
the retreating enemy. At the same time, the purpose of the 
enemy being now fully developed, he ordered the rapid concen- 
tration of his scattered troops, for the purpose of closing in upon 
General Smith. Despatches were sent to General Richardson, who 
was some twelve miles westward, to move at once to the bridge 
across Line Creek, and to push on in the direction of Okolona. 
The State troops, under Gholson, were to move in the same direc- 
tion, bearing a little westward, towards Houston. Jeffrey Forrest 
and Chalmers were to follow in the wake of Captain Tyler, while 
General Forrest, with his escort, would press forward to keep 

* Whip and Spur. By George E. Waring, Jr., formerly Colonel of the 
Fourth Missouri Cavalry, U. S. V. 

303 



L 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

up with the Kentucky captain. Bell's brigade, which, owing to the 
illness of this officer, was temporarily under Colonel C. R. Barteau, 
and which had been thrown to the east to guard the crossings of 
the Tombigbee, was ordered to move with all possible celerity and 
endeavor to intercept the retreating column of General Smith at 
Okolona. 

While these dispositions were being made, Captain Tyler was 
vigorously pursuing the retiring Federals. He says: "General 
Forrest in person gave me my orders to push forward and ascer- 
tain quickly what direction the enemy had taken. I followed at 
a stiff pace, but did not come up with them until I reached West 
Point. Their rear-guard was passing through this town, when I 
charged them with my two companies, driving them without 
serious resistance through the village, capturing and killing sev- 
eral. At this time the escort had not come up, nor were there 
any other Confederate troopers in sight, excepting my detach- 
ment. At West Point I learned that the entire Federal force had 
gone northward on the road to Okolona, and were evidently in 
rapid retreat. I reported this by courier to General Forrest at 
once. Slight skirmishing continued along the road, but no de- 
cided opposition was encountered till a point about six miles 
north of West Point had been reached. Here I became con- 
vinced that we had come up with a considerable body of the 
main column. There were in sight, as near as I could estimate, 
about fifteen hundred mounted troops and several pieces of ar- 
tillery, in well-selected position. The country was open in their 
immediate front, while just behind them was some heavy timber, 
which offered good protection, and also prevented me from de- 
termining the exact number of their troops."* 

The courage and vigor which characterized the pursuit of 
Captain Tyler may be inferred from the report of Major Coon, 
who commanded the rear of Smith's column at this juncture: 
" After having passed through West Point," he says, " the firing 
began in the rear, and increased for an hour, when I was called 
upon by Captain Graves, who was in command of the rear-guard, 
for assistance, as the enemy's forces were pressing him and threat- 
ened his flanks. One battalion of rifles was dismounted and placed 

* Manuscript in possession of the author. 
304 




/' 









i-i-. 






CAPTAIN H. A. TVI.ER 
Co. A, Twelfth Kentucky Cavalry 



DEFEATS THE ENEMY AT OKOLONA 

behind the fence and brought into line. The enemy, thinking the 
road dear, came up with great boldness. At this time two or 
three shells and three or four rounds of the rifles checked their 
movement, and my men retired in good order. From the demon- 
stration of the enemy, I deemed it necessary to dismount another 
battalion of rifles." 

Meeting with such formidable opposition. Captain Tyler wisely 
halted his column, threw it in line on one side of the road, out of 
reach of the enemy's artillery, and awaited the arrival of Forrest 
with his escort, who came up in a few minutes at a gallop. The 
general immediately took command of the squadron and the es- 
cort, and, advancing in the direction of the Federals, their battery 
soon opened upon him with such precision as to convince him of 
the rashness of attempting to move through the open field upon 
a superior force admirably posted. Telling Captain Tyler that 
McCulloch's and Forrest's brigades were immediately in the rear 
and would soon be up, he directed him to remain where he was 
while he would take his escort and pass to the flank and rear of 
the enemy in order to reconnoitre their position. He also ordered 
Tyler, in case the enemy began to give way, to charge them and 
to press the pursuit as vigorously as he had already done. 

Forrest, moving to the flank and rear, was observed by the ene- 
my, who immediately limbered up their artillery and retreated 
in great haste. Tyler followed, moving directly down the lane, 
and once more closed in upon the retreating rear-guard. General 
Forrest was considerably disappointed that his main column had 
not come up at this point. 

From the Union reports it is evident that they had consider- 
able difficulty in getting away fast enough to save themselves. 
Major Coon says : " I got my led horses and howitzers out of the 
timber in time to save them ; but my men on foot had become so 
completely exhausted that I felt at one time that half of them 
must be captured." 

Forrest's report reads: " I soon came on their rear-guard ; charged 
with my escort and Faulkner's command, and drove it before me." 

A mile or two farther up, in the direction of Okolona, the Fed- 
erals had determined upon another effort to check the pursuit, 
which at this early hour was presaging disaster to the flying col- 
umn. They had selected a place naturally strong, and in addi- 
u 305 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

tion had thrown up protecting breastworks of rails, and had 
taken advantage of a large gin-house and other out-buildings of a 
plantation which was situated on either side of the road from 
West Point to Okolona. Tyler, who was still in advance, rushed 
dangerously close to the Federal line, which opened upon him a 
scathing volley, and emptied several saddles of his troop. This offi- 
cer immediately withdrew his command, which was at this mo- 
ment joined by General Forrest with his escort. McCulloch's bri- 
gade was now ordered to the front. Dismounting, he advanced 
with about a thousand troopers, who, under the intrepid Mis- 
sourian, soon drove the Federals from their position. They no 
sooner turned to run than Forrest dashed at their rear, leading it^ 
person his escort and Tyler's Kentuckians. Within about one- 
half mile the best mounted of the Confederates had closed in 
with the laggards of the Union rear, precipitating one of the 
severest combats at close quarters which took place on this day. 
Seeing the desperate predicament in which their comrades were, 
some of the Federals not immediately in the rear turned boldly 
on their pursuers. Here General Forrest, whose skilful horseman- 
ship, dexterity with the sabre, and great muscular strength stood 
him well in hand in these frequent combats at close quarters, 
killed a Federal trooper, who, relying upon his pistol, had fired at 
and missed his adversary. This brief yet bloody affair seemed to 
convince the Union forces that another stand for that day was in- 
judicious. They continued their retreat, and the Confederates 
pursued them until nightfall, when General Forrest ordered his 
men to take a much-needed rest. 

General Smith had wisely determined to put as great a distance 
as possible between his rear-guard and the Confederates. He 
urged his weary troopers on until near midnight, when he halted 
and encamped three miles south of Okolona. Forrest had no 
thought of allowing his enemy much time for rest and recupera- 
tion. By four o'clock on the morning of the 22d he had despatched 
Jeffrey Forrest's brigade by a road which gradually converged 
towards the route along which the enemy had retreated, and 
united with this about one mile south of Okolona. Placing him- 
self at the head of his escort, before the day had yet dawned, the 
Confederate general moved rapidly to the front, followed in close 
order by the ever-faithful McCulloch and his gallant brigade. He 

306 



DEFEATS THE ENEMY AT OKOLONA 

soon encountered Smith's outpost pickets, which he charged at 
sight, chasing these and the rear-guard into and through the town 
of Okolona. 

Just beyond the limits of this village a considerable body of 
Federal troops were now discovered drawn up in line of battle 
in the open prairie, and apparently ready to attack. Across 
the prairie, and distant about a mile, Forrest was rejoiced to 
see another line of battle, which he recognized as Bell's brigade 
under the intrepid Barteau, who, true to his promise to unite 
with his commander at Okolona at an early hour on the 22d, had 
arrived at that point an hour before Forrest and the escort 
came up. He found himself with a single brigade in the im- 
mediate presence of a force of the enemy suflRciently large to 
overwhelm him, had General Grierson taken proper advantage 
of the absence of Forrest with Chalmers's division. Fully re- 
alizing the peril of his position, Barteau assumed a bold front, 
threw his troopers into line, advanced his skirmishers, and ma- 
nceuvred his force in such a fashion that an assault upon him was 
deferred while a careful reconnaissance was being made upon 
either flank of the Confederate force. The time thus gained in 
all probability saved him from disaster, as Forrest came up be- 
fore Grierson had determined to attack. 

Forrest had no sooner caught sight of Barteau's line than, leav- 
ing half of his escort as skirmishers, whom he directed to engage 
the attention of the enemy, with the other half he galloped across 
the plain and joined Barteau. The yells of the Tennesseeans as 
they recognized their idolized chieftain, in whose courage and skill 
every one had implicit faith, told Forrest how thoroughly he might 
depend upon the devotion of his followers. He congratulated 
Barteau on the disposition he had made of his troops, as he rode 
along the lines, stretched to the utmost to make the largest possi- 
ble display of force, and encouraged the men with a few timely 
words. He told them that all the day preceding he had whipped 
the enemy in engagement after engagement, and chased them 
until night compelled him to stop ; that they were already cowed 
and beaten, and if his men would follow him into their ranks with 
the courage they had shown in their work in west Tennessee, the 
Federals would not stand the pressure. With rare tact he added 
for their greater encouragement that Chalmers's division and Rich- 

307 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

ardson's brigade were close at hand and would join in the at- 
tack. 

Both lines of battle were in plain view of each other across the 
open prairie, and the Confederates so far on the ground were great- 
ly overmatched. Forrest looked with longing eyes in the direction 
of West Point, but as yet McCulloch's and Jeffrey Forrest's bri- 
gades were not in sight. With all in readiness, noticing a point in 
Grierson's line where the Federal troopers were apparently in con- 
fusion, rising in his stirrups, he yelled at the top of his voice, 
" Charge !" and away he went, the foremost horseman of the line. 

Colonel Barteau, who was frequently in battle with Forrest, 
says : " One of his many peculiarities was that in battle he 
never seemed to touch his saddle, but ' stood up ' in his stir- 
rups, an attitude which gave him the appearance of being a foot 
taller than he really was. As he was over six feet in stature 
and of large proportions, and of necessity rode a large horse, it 
was not difficult to recognize his imposing presence at any or- 
dinary distance along the line." 

As the Confederates came on the Union troopers gave them a 
single volley and retreated to find shelter behind a second line of 
General Smith's cavalry. Unwilling to further jeopardize the 
small force at this moment under him by a further attack on the 
strong lines which his advance had developed, Forrest called a 
halt to his men, threw forward his skirmishers, and, taking advan- 
tage of a " stake-and-rider " fence, dismounted about two-thirds 
of his command, and for a short time engaged the enemy on foot. 

The Fourth United States Regulars, who were considered by all 
odds the best fighters with Smith's expedition, ventured at one 
moment to make a rush upon the skirmish line that Forrest had 
advanced. They compelled these to retire within supporting dis- 
tance of the dismounted Confederates along the line of fence, 
who, opening upon the Union cavalry, drove them back in dis- 
order. 

Having observed the head of McCulloch's column, which was 
followed by his brother's brigade, now coming into Okolona and 
on to the field from the south, he sent word for them to press 
forward in his rear, and, mounting all the troops of Barteau's com- 
mand, the Confederate general took immediate advantage of the 
disorder into which the Fourth Regulars had been thrown, and 

308 



ACCOUNTS OF BATTLE AT OKOLONA 

gave his well-known order to " Move up !" Taking the lead with 
the escort and the Second Tennessee, he charged and broke the 
Federals, and pressed them with such vigor that they fled the 
field in great confusion. 

No sooner had the Fourth Regulars given way than the Seventh 
Indiana rallied to its support, but this in turn suffered defeat. Then 
the Third brigade of Smith's expedition, under Colonel Lafayette 
McCrillis, was lined up for their assistance, but Forrest's onslaught 
was irresistible, and the defeat of the enemy was now complete. 

Colonel George E. Waring, who commanded the First brigade 
on this occasion, says: "On the 22d the first brigade was ordered 
to form in line and prepare for a fight. It formed in the open 
country, with the enemy in sight about a mile away across the 
prairie. As we passed to the left of Okolona, one regiment, the 
Seventh Indiana, was ordered to fall out and support the Fourth 
Regulars. The Third brigade had the rear of the column, the 
Regulars and the Seventh Indiana were engaged, and this brigade 
was ordered to the attack. It soon broke in disgraceful flight 
and confusion, abandoning five guns of its battery without firing 
a shot." * 

Colonel McCrillis reports that he was directed by General Grier- 
son to form his brigade in line, while he (Grierson) would place 
himself at the head of the Fourth cavalry and the Seventh In- 
diana, and engage the enemy in front. He says : " At this time 
the column in front moved suddenly and rapidly as the firing 
commenced in the rear, and the column of the enemy on our 
right charged down on the Third Illinois. I was sent forward 
to reinforce this regiment, to halt the column and reinforce the 
rear. The Third Tennessee was ordered into an open field on 
our left to protect the Second Tennessee and Fourth Regulars, 
who were hard-pressed and outflanked by a superior force. These 
regiments were forced upon the rear of the column by the enemy, 
and the Third Tennessee was ordered back. They were driven 
in, and charged on in rear and flank, and all three of the regi- 
ments — the Fourth Regulars, and the Second and Third Ten- 
nessee — became entirely disorganized. I then passed to the head 
of the disorganized regiments, and found General Grierson and a 

* Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, vol. iv. p. 417. 

309 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

part of his staff trying to check the column, but with their aid 
and part of my own staff I found it only partially practicable." 

The confusion into which this division of General Grierson's 
cavalry was thrown was complete, and the relentless pursuit and 
vigorous pressure which Forrest brought to bear upon them soon 
developed their flight into a hopeless stampede. Officers as well 
as men stood not " upon the order of their going," but went as 
best they could. Along the road and through the woods or fields 
on either hand, paying slight heed to commands from any source, 
the crowds of panic-stricken soldiers rushed and crowded until the 
way was choked with the surging mass of men and animals. Five 
pieces of artillery, retarding their disordered flight, were forced 
from the road into a field, and fell a prey to the fierce-smiting 
Forresters. 

Lieutenant I. W. Curtis, of the First Illinois Light Artillery, 
says : " We had not proceeded very far from Okolona when we 
were unexpectedly surprised by the presence of flying cavalry on 
both sides of us. They were in perfect confusion ; some halloo- 
ing ' Go ahead, or we will be killed !' while some few showed a 
willingness to fight. After several unsuccessful attempts to form 
my battery, I gave it up, and marched as best I could until I re- 
ceived an order for me to try to save the artillery by marching 
through the field to the right. I proceeded to comply with 
orders. After crossing some two or three almost impassable 
ditches, and my horses being nearly exhausted, I came to another 
ditch some six feet deep. I managed to get one gun over safe 
by the men dismounting and taking it over by hand, and one 
other which, by the time we got it over, was broken so that we 
had to leave it. I ordered them to cut the horses loose, to cut 
the gearing, and to go ahead with the led horses."* 

From the point where the first dispersion of General Smith's 
rear-guard took place, within sight of the village of Okolona, no 
resistance save an occasional rifle-shot from the fleeing rear-guard 
was made, until a point westward about five miles was reached. 

Colonel Waring, who with his brigade was in advance at this 
time, says that when five miles west of Okolona he received a 
message from the rear informing him of the disaster that had hap- 

* Official Records, vol. xxxii. part i. p. 301. 
310 



ACCOUNTS OF BATTLE AT OKALONA 

pened to McCrillis's brigade and the other troops which had been 
sent to reinforce him. He was ordered to form a line in the first 
available position and fortify it ; get together what artillery could 
be had, and to allow the stampeding cavalry to pass through its 
lines and hold the enemy in check, if possible, until they could be 
in a measure reorganized at some safe distance in his rear. 

The Federal commander and his subordinates realized that the 
situation was desperate. As the disorganized cavalry came in 
sight of Waring's position and passed through, they gave evi- 
dence of such complete demoralization that this officer became 
seriously alarmed as to the safety of his own command. He says: 

" I formed my brigade in line, with skirmishers far out on each 
flank, and remained until the Third brigade had passed through, 
portions of it in such confusion as to endanger the morale of my 
own command." 

He then abandoned the line he had formed, under orders from 
his superior, and fell back to a stronger position, about a mile dis- 
tant. At this point another stand was made. The Second New 
Jersey, the Second Illinois, Seventh Indiana, and Fourth Missouri 
bearing the brunt of the fight, until they in turn were over- 
whelmed by Forrest's irresistible onslaught. Meanwhile General 
Smith seemed at last to be aroused to a full appreciation of his 
desperate condition. About two miles in the rear of the line 
which Waring had first taken to check the flight of Grierson's 
troops. Smith had selected a position of great natural strength on 
a farm called Ivey's Hill, near Tallaboncla. Northward from 
Okolona the road to Pontotoc, along which this relentless pursuit 
was being pressed, passes from the open prairie into a wooded and 
hilly country ; and at the point chosen by General Smith, for the 
purpose of checking the advance of the enemy, and giving him 
time to reorganize his broken column, the highway ran directly 
along the backbone or summit of a narrow ridge. On Ivey's 
Hill, just where the houses, gin-house, and stables of a large plan- 
tation were erected, the road coming from the direction of Oko- 
lona turned almost at a right angle in its course towards Pontotoc. 
Taking advantage of this deflection and the houses, which offered 
great protection to his command, and hastily throwing the rails 
from the fence into temporary breastworks, and massing his artil- 
lery, General Smith had at last with skill so disposed his forces as 

3" 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

to command the long, narrow road which approached his formi- 
dable position. 

As General Forrest came in sight, two separate lines of the Fed- 
erals were now in plain view. He ordered the two brigades which 
were immediately with him, Jeffrey Forrest's and McCulloch's, 
to form in columns of four to one side of the highway, taking ad- 
vantage of the protection which the wooded land afforded. They 
could thus advance without being exposed to the artillery, from 
which they would necessarily suffer had they moved forward in 
the open lane. Bell's brigade, having borne the brunt of the fight- 
ing in the earlier part of the day, had been replaced by the two 
commands just named, and was now bringing up the rear at a 
slow pace. It was only the work of a few minutes for these rough 
riders and hard fighters to be in readiness for the advance. They 
did not number twelve hundred in both brigades. Eighteen hours 
of hard riding had broken down a large number of the horses, and, 
although the men whose animals gave out struggled along on foot 
as ordered, they could not keep in sight of their mounted com- 
rades. The bugle sounded, and away the two columns sped 
parallel with each other. Coming near the enemy, they changed 
their formation from columns of four into line, and then swept 
forward. Within about three hundred yards of the advance line 
of the Union troops a thundering volley rolled from the artil- 
lery and the small arms on the hill in front, and a number of 
the Southerners went down. At the first volley Colonel Jeffrey 
Forrest, with the reckless daring which he had shown in many 
other encounters, and which was characteristic of the five brothers 
who won distinction under the flag of the Confederacy, while lead- 
ing this charge at the head of his brigade, met the glorious death 
of a soldier. In the flush of victory he fell, instantly killed by a 
Minie ball which passed through his neck, cutting the carotid ar- 
tery and dividing the spinal cord. Colonel McCulloch, who oc- 
cupied the same position at the head of his brigade, was also, 
by the same volley, painfully wounded. 

Staggered by this terrific fire, the death of the younger Forrest, 
and the wounding of McCulloch, the troops wavered and then halt- 
ed. This was the moment when General Smith might have won suc- 
cess, but, seemingly content with checking the Confederate advance, 
the Federals made no effort to advance from behind their works. 

312 



DEATH OF JEFFREY FORREST 

Colonel W. L. Duckworth, of the Seventh Tennessee, who at 
once assumed command of Jeffrey Forrest's brigade, with the aid 
of Lieutenant-Colonel D. M. Wisdom and Colonel Russell, steadied 
the command, dismounted their men, and prepared to defend to 
the last the position they had gained. At the same time, Colo- 
nel Robert McCulloch, refusing to quit the field, also dismounted 
his troops, and sent the horses to the rear, to a place of safety. 
While the fighting still continued, the " lion-hearted McCulloch " 
had the surgeon dress his wound, and never left the head of his 
command until late in the night, when all signs of the enemy 
had disappeared. 

The death of Jeffrey Forrest overwhelmed the general with 
grief. His love for this youngest brother surpassed the ordinary 
affection which exists in this relationship. He was the pride as 
well as the best beloved of his brothers ; for circumstances of an 
unusual nature had brought about this extreme attachment. Bed- 
ford Forrest, the first-born of a large family, growing almost to 
manhood in extremest poverty, had by the death of his father, 
when he was but sixteen years of age, become the natural support 
and guardian of his mother and the large family of children. The 
father had been dead four months when this brother who had just 
fallen in battle came into the world, and the eldest son had 
looked upon him as his special charge. Naturally of a gentle and 
affectionate disposition, exhibiting to those in pain or distress the 
tenderness of a woman, he had cared for this child with the most 
loving attention. As he grew towards manhood, and the clouds 
of poverty began to break, when the hope of plenty for all he 
loved and struggled for became a reality, and Bedford Forrest 
was a man of fortune, he saw to it that at least this member of 
his family should have the advantages of education and cultiva- 
tion of which he and the others had been deprived. 

Jeffrey had been given every opportunity to reach a high place 
in the social and professional world, and was ambitious to make 
his mark high enough to satisfy his brother's pride. When the 
war come on, laying aside every civil aspiration, he entered the 
service, and, though only twenty-four years old, had risen by merit 
to the command of a brigade. 

When General Forrest saw his brother fall from his horse he 
rushed to the spot, dismounted, and, kneeling, held the lifeless 

313 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

form in his arms, and called him several times by name, in a voice 
choking with anguish. Realizing then that he was dead, he kissed 
him on the forehead, laid him gently down again upon the earth, 
called his aide-de-camp, Major Strange, and with tears in his eyes 
asked his faithful adjutant to take charge of his brother's remains. 

In the immediate presence of this affecting scene the Confed- 
erate troops had ceased firing; to the right and left, however, along 
the lines, the rifles of the dismounted men were cracking away at 
the Federals on the hill. Several minutes must have elapsed 
while the small group of officers and men gathered around their 
grief-stricken commander. To those present it seemed as if for 
once, in the agony of a great personal loss, this strong leader of 
men had lost sight of the greater obligation which he owed to the 
safety of his devoted followers. But it was only for a few minutes 
at the most, and so deep was the sympathy of these men with 
their leader that they would have submitted to any exposure and 
taken any risk out of respect to his deep affliction. 

Meanwhile a portion of Bell's brigade had come in sight. 
Mounting his horse, and looking rearward to assure himself of 
this fact, General Forrest rode a few paces to the front, and, de- 
spite the heavy firing which had not for a moment ceased, sur- 
veyed quickly yet carefully the position of the enemy on the hill. 
He then directed a portion of the Forrest brigade, now under 
Colonel W. L, Duckworth, to mount and ride to the left and on 
the flank and rear of the Federals. This detachment had scarcely 
started to make this movement when the entire command pres- 
ent was ordered to mount and prepare to advance ; then waving 
his sabre in the air, Forrest ordered his bugler to sound the charge, 
and shouted to his men to follow him. With his ever-faithful 
escort at his heels, he dashed at full speed in the direction of the 
Union position, and to some of his officers who witnessed it, it 
seemed an act so rash as to savor of madness. Major Strange 
was at the time fearful that his commander had been made des- 
perate by the death of his brother, and, wild with despair at such 
misfortune, was rushing headlong in the hope of a like fate to him- 
self. The Federal line gave way before the desperate onslaught 
which Forrest was making. The movement of the Confederate 
troops towards the flank and rear had evidently frightened Gen- 
eral Smith, who ordered his troops to retire, which they did with 

314 



ACCOUNTS OF BATTLE AT OKOLONA 

great rapidity. Forrest followed as swiftly as was his wont, and 
soon was dangerously far in advance of any strong support. The 
escort was with him, some sixty in number, and close behind, not 
more than a like number of the best-mounted men of the troops, 
who were endeavoring to keep pace with him. The Union retreat, 
impeded by a piece of artillery, which had met with an accident 
and was abandoned, with two or three wagons and caissons of am- 
munition, was just at this moment retarded, and, as the Confed- 
erates were close at hand and following at full tilt, the Federal 
commander had thrown some five hundred of his rear-guard into 
line across the road. Into these Forrest dashed, and here one 
of the most sanguinary hand-to-hand engagements of the war 
occurred. Dr. J. B. Cowan writes: "I had just reached the 
spot where Jeffrey Forrest was lying dead, when Major Strange 
said to me as I rode up, ' Doctor, hurry after the general ; I 
am afraid he will be killed !' Putting spurs to my horse, I rode 
rapidly to the front, and in about a mile, as I rounded a short 
turn in the road, I came upon a scene which made my blood 
run cold. There in the road was General Forrest with his escort, 
and a few of the advance-guard of the Forrest brigade, in a hand- 
to-hand fight to the death, with Federals enough, it seemed to me, 
to have pulled them from their horses. Horrified at the situation, 
I turned back down the road to see if help was at hand, and, as 
good-fortune would have it, the head of McCulloch's brigade was 
coming in full sweep towards me."* 

The position occupied by the Federals at this time was a strong 
one, and the number of Federals engaged with the general and 
his escort seemed so large, and the undertaking to drive them off 
so great, that for a moment McCulloch's men hesitated. They did 
not usually stop at anything which looked like a fight, but to 
them it seemed certain death to rush into the trap in which For- 
rest and his escort had seemingly fallen, and an effort to rescue 
them seemed hopeless. It was here that the heroic McCulloch 
proved his devotion to his leader. The dressing of his wound- 
ed hand had become saturated with blood, and, seeing the mo- 
mentary hesitation on the part of his troops, he held his bloody 
hand high above his head and shouted at the top of his voice, 

* Manuscript in possession of the author. 
315 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

" My God, men, will you see them kill your general ? I will go 
to his rescue if not a man follows me !" With this he dashed 
towards the enemy, followed by his troopers to a man, and was 
soon in the thickest of the fray. 

This short encounter did not consume much more time than 
it requires to describe it, for the Federals turned in flight, and were 
sorely pursued by the Missourians. It is said on excellent au- 
thority that in this single encounter General Forrest placed three 
of the enemy hors-de-combat. 

Inside of a mile from the scene of this last encounter the 
rear-guard had taken up another position. As General Forrest 
approached, Dr. Cowan was riding by his side. The Federals 
opened upon them, and the bullets were falling in alarming prox- 
imity, when the doctor said : " General, I think you should get 
out of the road ; it is not right unnecessarily to expose yourself." 
Forrest replied : " Doctor, if you are alarmed, you may get out of 
the way; I am as safe here as there." The doctor continues: 
" At this moment a piece of artillery which had not been observed 
opened upon us, and the general's horse fell dead. I dismounted 
at once and offered him my own, but he said, ' No, I will take 
Long's ' (calling to a member of his escort by this name), ' and he 
can go to the rear.' 

"Just here, where this horse was killed, there was a little log 
cabin, and we noticed a woman and some children huddled in 
behind the house in a corner of the chimney. Touched by the 
terror of the mother for herself and her children, Forrest said, 
' Dr. Cowan, please put that poor woman and her children in 
that hole ' (pointing to a pit in one corner of the yard from which 
the earth had been taken for making the mortar in the construc- 
tion of the rude chimney), and added, ' In there they will be per- 
fectly safe!' " 

In a few minutes the whole command had moved forward 
again, and another short, sharp fight occurred, in which the gen- 
eral's second horse was also shot down, after which he had the 
famous old charger " King Philip " brought up, and he rode him 
to the close of the day. "King Philip" also received a slight 
wound in the neck on this sanguinary day, but was not fatally 
hurt. 

In this last charge the gallant Lieutenant -Colonel James A. 

-?i6 



I 



ACCOUNTS OF BATTLE AT OKOLONA 

Barksdale, of the Fifth Mississippi, fell mortally wounded, just 
as the Federal line gave way. 

From this time the Federals offered no further resistance at 
any point. Discouraged and beaten, they hurried on their weary 
journey towards Memphis, bending every energy to escape capt- 
ure. In the language of one of the brigade commanders, Colonel 
Waring, " The retreat to Memphis was a weary, disheartening, 
and almost panic-stricken flight, in the greatest disorder and con- 
fusion, and through a most difficult country. The First Brigade 
reached its camping-ground five days after the engagement, with 
the loss of all its heart and spirit, and nearly fifteen hundred fine 
cavalry horses. The expedition filled every man connected with 
it with burning shame, and it gave Forrest the most glorious 
achievement of his career." 

Colonel Joseph Karg^, of the Second New Jersey Cavalry, bears 
testimony to the dilapidated condition of the Federal command 
as it journeyed towards Memphis: "The regiment lost by death 
on the march and in camp the majority of its horses, and of the 
remaining one hundred and sixty-one only fifty-five can be called 
serviceable." 

Lieutenant Curtis, whose battery, with the exception of a single 
piece, was captured in the stampede, reports : " I then proceeded 
to gather up my company with my single gun. I lost thirty 
horses during the march." 

The commander of the expedition reports that from West Point 
he retired, "fighting for over sixty miles, night and day"; and of 
the closing fight on the 22d, he says : " The Second Tennessee 
Cavalry, the last regiment that I had thrown into the line to cover 
the passage of our column, broke from line, stampeded, and gal- 
loped over our rear-guard, drove a battery of little pop-guns into 
a ditch, where they were so badly smashed we could not get them 
out, so we unhitched the horses, destroyed the ammunition, and 
spiked the guns. This spread confusion everywhere, which the 
rebels took advantage of, pitched into us, and gave us pretty rough 
handling, inflicting a loss upon us of about three or four hundred 
men — killed, wounded, and missing. Our total loss, killed and 
wounded, will reach about four hundred, and of stragglers they 
must have picked up about two or three hundred, possibly more, 
but this is immaterial." 

317 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

In his official report, General Forrest says of the last resistance 
offered on this day: "They made a last final effort to check pur- 
suit ; from their preparations, numbers, and advantageous position 
no doubt indulging the hope of success. They had formed in 
three lines, crossing a large field on the left of the road, but which 
a turn in the road placed directly in our front. Their lines were 
at intervals of a hundred paces, and the rear and second lines 
longer than the first. As the advance of my column moved up, 
they opened on it with artillery. My ammunition was nearly ex- 
hausted, and I knew that if we faltered they in turn would become 
the attacking party, and disaster might follow. Many of my men 
were broken down and exhausted with climbing the hills on foot 
and fighting almost constantly for the last nine miles. I deter- 
mined, therefore, to rely upon the bravery and courage of the few 
men I had, and advance to the attack. As we moved up, the whole 
force charged down at a gallop, and I am proud to say that my . 
men did not disappoint me. Standing firm, they repulsed one of 
the grandest cavalry charges I had ever witnessed. The Second 
and Seventh Tennessee drove back the advancing line, whose head 
wheeled into retreat, pouring a destructive fire on each successive 
line of the enemy, who soon fled the field in dismay and confu- 
sion, losing an entire battery of artillery, and leaving the field 
strewn with dead and wounded men and horses. 

" Half of my command were out of ammunition, men and horses 
were exhausted and worn out with two days' hard riding and fight- 
ing, and as night was at hand farther pursuit was impossible. Gen- 
eral Gholson arrived during the night with his command, which was 
small but comparatively fresh. I ordered them to follow the next 
morning, and to press forward and cross the Tallahatchie. 

•' Considering the disparity in numbers and equipment, I regard 
the defeat of this force, consisting as it did of the best cavalry of 
the Federal army, a victory of which all who were engaged in it 
may justly feel proud. Its moral effect upon the raw, undisci- 
plined, and undrilled troops in this command is of a value incalcu- 
lable. It has inspired them with courage and given them confidence 
in themselves and their commanders. Although many of them 
were but recently organized, they fought with a courage and dar- 
ing worthy of veterans. They captured six pieces of artillery, 
three stands of colors, and 162 prisoners. My force in the fight 

318. 



ACCOUNTS OF BATTLE AT OKOLONA 

did not exceed 2500 men, while that of the enemy, twenty- 
seven regiments, cavalry and mounted infantry, numbered 7000 
strong. 

" I regret the loss of some gallant officers. The death of my 
brother. Colonel Jeffrey E. Forrest, is deeply felt by his brigade 
as well as by myself, and it is but just to say that for sobriety, 
ability, prudence, and bravery he had no superior of his age." 

General Forrest pays grateful tribute to the memory of Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Barksdale, who fell, mortally wounded, soon after 
Jeffrey Forrest was killed, and also to the heroism of Colonel Rob- 
ert McCulloch, who, although wounded, continued in command. 
The charge led by McCulloch, and the desperate encounter south 
of Pontotoc, will never be forgotten by those who witnessed and 
survived it, and ought not to be forgotten as long as courage and 
heroism are appreciated by the human race. Captain H. A. Tyler, 
who joined in the charge, said of it: " McCulloch, with his band- 
aged hand, all blood-stained and raised high above his head, re- 
called the plume of Henry of Navarre, and we rode after it as 
faithfully as did the followers of the peerless prince." 

Colonels Russell, Duckworth, and Barteau,and Lieutenant Thom- 
as S. Tate, who commanded the escort in the terrible mel^e, were 
especially mentioned, as was Captain Jackson and other officers of 
this command. It is to Lieutenant Tate that we are indebted for 
a description of the exciting combat in which his life was saved 
by the quick eye of Forrest, who, although sorely beset, saw the 
danger in which his devoted subordinate was in, and, rushing to 
his rescue, slew the Federal trooper with a stroke of his sabre. 

The corrected reports of the losses in the two commands, in 
the engagements of the 20th, 21st, and 22d, showed 27 killed, 97 
wounded, and 20 missing in the Confederate army. General Smith 
lost 54 killed, 179 wounded, and 155 missing. Total, 388. 

General Gholson, with the State militia, kept up the chase as 
far north as the Tallahatchie, which was crossed on the 23d at New 
Albany, and from thence the Federals pursued their way unmolest- 
ed to Memphis. 

Gathering up his wounded, who were taken back to the hospital 
at Okolona, and leaving details to bury those who had fallen in the 
various encounters, General Forrest returned and established his 
headquarters at Starkville, where, on the 26th, he was joined by his 

319 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

entire command, which, in the latter part of February, went into 
camp at Columbus, Mississippi. 

For the failure to join him at Meridian, as agreed upon in the plan 
of campaign, General Sherman never forgave his unfortunate sub- 
ordinate. In his Memoirs he says : " General Smith was ordered 
to move from Memphis straight for Meridian, Mississippi, and to 
start from there the ist of February. I explained to him person- 
ally the nature of Forrest as a man, and his peculiar force ; told 
him that in his route he was sure to encounter him ; that he al- 
ways attacked with vehemence, for which he must be prepared, 
and that were he repelled at a first attack, he must in turn assume 
a most determined offensive, overwhelm him, and utterly destroy 
his whole force. He knew that Forrest could not have more than 
four thousand cavalry, and my own movements would give em- 
ployment to every other man in the rebel army not immediately 
present with him, so that General Smith might safely act on this 
hypothesis. I wanted to destroy General Forrest, who was con- 
stantly threatening Memphis and the river above, as well as our 
route to supplies in middle Tennessee. In this we failed utterly, 
because General Smith, when he did start, allowed General Forrest 
to head him off and to defeat him with an inferior force near West 
Point, below Okolona." He adds : " Of course I did not, and could 
not, approve of his conduct. I had set so much store on his part 
of the project that I was disappointed, and so reported ofificially 
to General Grant. General Smith never regained my confidence 
as a soldier, though I still regard him as a most accomplished 
gentleman and a skilful engineer. Since the close of the war he 
has appealed to me to relieve him of that censure, but I could not 
do it, because it would falsify history." 

The disappointment of Sherman was scarcely less keen than 
that of his superior, the general-in-chief of the army. Grant, in 
his Memoirs, vol. ii. p. io8, in speaking of the Meridian expedi- 
tion, says : " Forrest had about four thousand cavalry with him, 
composed of fairly well-disciplined men, who, under so able a 
leader, were very effective. Smith's command was nearly double 
that of Forrest, but not equal man to man, for the lack of a suc- 
cessful experience such as Forrest's men had had. The fact is, 
troops who have fought a few battles and won, and followed up 
their victories, improve upon what they were before to an extent 

320 



GRANT'S ESTIMATE OF FORREST 

that can hardly be counted by percentage. The difference in re- 
sult is often decisive victory instead of inglorious defeat. This 
same difference, too, is often due to the way troops are officered ; 
and for the particular kind of warfare which Forrest had carried 
on neither army could present a more effective ofificer than he." 

As these Memoirs were written years after the war was over, 
when General Grant had access to all the records which bore upon 
this enterprise, it is a matter of astonishment that he could sub- 
mit such an entirely mistaken view of the condition of Forrest's 
command, no matter how anxious he might have been to excuse 
his friend. General Smith, whom he had appointed to this position 
against the judgment and silent protest of the far-sighted Sher- 
man. It is true that Forrest did have with him about four thou- 
sand cavalry, but his command was at no time concentrated and 
available for an attack upon General Smith. Many of his troops 
in this pursuit had never been under fire before, and not five 
hundred of them had ever fought a battle under their present 
leader. About three thousand of these men he had brought out 
of west Tennessee only six weeks before the expedition of Smith 
was encountered at West Point. They had had scant time for 
drilling, and in no sense should be considered as " thoroughly 
well- disciplined men." As compared to their opponents, they 
were badly equipped, and it is a matter which redounds to the 
credit and proves the wonderful ability of General Forrest that 
with a command which at no time in action exceeded three 
thousand newly organized and insufficiently armed troops, he con- 
fronted, defeated, and pursued for more than fifty miles seven 
thousand of the best cavalry in the Union army, backed by 
twenty pieces of artillery, and equipped with Colt's repeating 
rifles and pistols and modern carbines, the most effective weapons 
then known to warfare. 

General Grant was more nearly correct when he speaks of For- 
rest as " so able a leader." He proved it not only here, but on 
many occasions before he encountered this expedition. It is evi- 
dent to the military critic that all the advantage was with the 
Federal commander. He had every reason to become acquainted 
with the small available force of his antagonist. When he turned 
back at West Point to retreat to Memphis, and was here assailed 
by Forrest, it was in the open wide prairie country. As Colonel 
X 321 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

Waring says : " Below Okolona we entered the beautiful prairie 
region of east Mississippi, and a finer country for cavalry is nowhere 
to be found." 

Forrest drew his men up in line of battle in plain view of the 
extended lines of his adversary. Why Generals Smith and Grier- 
son did not overwhelm him then and there may well be consid- 
ered a matter of surprise to the student of this brief campaign. 
He had him in full view, and in the open country, and had on the 
field more than twice as many troops as the Confederate general. 
Forrest manoeuvred his forces with his usual audacity, and evi- 
dently impressed General Smith with the idea that he had at 
command and in reserve an overwhelming force. 

In speaking of this affair, Forrest said : " General Grierson left 
a weak place in his line, and I carried my men right through it." 
Once started on the run, he never ceased his relentless pursuit for 
two entire days and a portion of two nights, fighting at almost 
every bend in the road, as General Smith reports, for nearly sixty 
miles, and when finally night fell upon his exhausted troops in 
sight of Pontotoc, on the 22d of February, the Federal column was 
in such panic and confusion it is probable that nothing but night- 
fall saved the entire command from destruction. 

Not only was the open country between West Point and Oko- 
lona entirely favorable to General Smith's superior force, but in 
retreat the advantage is always in favor of the pursued. From 
every available position ambuscades rnay be laid, narrow road- 
ways obstructed and commanded by artillery, where a few troops 
properly posted can hold at bay a largely superior force, inflicting 
heavy loss or compelling the assailants to make wide detours to 
dislodge them, at great expense of time and energy. 

After Okolona is passed, the road for mile after mile runs along 
the back of a narrow ridge, and such is the nature of the country 
and the peculiar location of this highway that it is admirably 
adapted for successful defence from pursuit. 

On March 3d General Polk issued a special order congratulating 
Major-General Forrest upon the brilliant and successful campaign 
just closed. " It marks an era in this war, full of honor to our 
arms, and calculated to teach a useful lesson to our enemies. The 
lieutenant-general commanding tenders thanks, and the thanks of 
his countrymen, to Generals Lee and Forrest and the gallant spirits 

323 



ADDRESS TO HIS COMMAND 

who follow them." On the i ith of the same month, from Colum- 
bus, Forrest issued an address in which he says : " The major-gen- 
eral commanding desires to return his thanks and acknowledg- 
ments to the officers and men of his command for the recent 
gallant and meritorious conduct in defeating and routing the 
largest, most carefully selected, and best -equipped cavalry and 
mounted-infantry command ever sent into the field by the ene- 
my. It affords him pleasure and pride to say that by your un- 
flinching bravery and endurance a force three times your own was 
defeated and driven from the country. Thus by your valor and 
courage you have given safety and security to the homes of the 
defenceless, whose grateful acknowledgments are showered upon 
you, and whose prayers daily and nightly ascend unto heaven for 
your future prosperity and success. Deploring the loss of some of 
our bravest officers and men, he desires that you cherish their mem- 
ory, emulate their example, and achieve your independence or per- 
ish in the attempt." 



CHAPTER XIV 

STORMING FORT PILLOW 

Forrest's Third Invasion of West Tennessee — Reorganization of His Command — 
General A. Buford, with the Fragments of Three Kentucky Regiments of In- 
fantry, Transferred to Forrest — Headquarters Established at Jackson, Tennessee 
— Recruiting Bureaus Opened Throughout West Tennessee and Eastern Kentucky 
— Capture of Paducah — Rash and Unauthorized Assault on the Fort in that City by 
Colonel A. P. Thompson's Brigade — Death of this Brave Officer — Repulse of His 
Brigade — Captain Tyler's Feint on Columbus — General Buford Returns to Paducah 
for Horses and Recaptures the Place — Forrest Moves on Fort Pillow, which is Taken 
by Storm — Desperate Resistance and Consequent Heavy Slaughter — Free Distribu- 
tion of Liquor to the Garrison — Evidence Corroborative of the Charge of Intoxica- 
tion among the Union Forces — Exaggerated Statements of Survivors — Committee of 
the United States Congress — The Small Value Placed upon Human Life in 1865 — 
The Report of the " Fort Pillow Massacre" a War Measure Intended for Political 
EfTect — Analysis of the Evidence — Proof that No Massacre Occurred — Sworn State- 
ments of Survivors among the Confederates: Major-General James R. Chalmers, 
Brigadier-General Tyree H. Bell, Colonel Robert McCuUoch, Colonel C. R. Bar- 
teau, Lieutenant-Colonel D. M. Wisdom, Major Charles W. Anderson, and Forty- 
seven Other Survivors — Animated Correspondence between Generals Washburn and 
Forrest. 

FORREST'S defeat of William Sooy Smith attracted more 
attention at Richmond than any of his previous achieve- 
ments, and the eyes of the authorities were at last opened to 
the suggestions which some months earlier he had made. The as- 
signment of General T. H. Bell, and other influential citizens of 
west Tennessee, to duty with him, had attracted to his standard 
a very considerable number of recruits from this section, who, 
under his magnetic and inspiring leadership, had developed into a 
body of fighters equal in effectiveness to any in the Southern army. 

It will be remembered that General Forrest, when first ordered ' 
to duty in the West, had requested that a battalion of Kentuck- 
ians under Colonel Woodward should be permitted to accompany 
him as part of his command. He argued that as these men were 
natives of the western portion of their State, they would be useful 
not only on account of their intimate acquaintance with the country 

324 



REORGANIZATION OF HIS COMMAND 

he was about to invade, but also as a nucleus around which might 
be gathered additional recruits from this quarter. The govern- 
ment at Richmond now concluded that what Forrest and Bell had 
accompHshed in west Tennessee might be done in Kentucky. 
About the ist of March, 1864, Brigadier-General Abe Buford, a 
member of one of the most influential families of this common- 
wealth, and an officer who had already demonstrated both courage 
and ability in the service, was ordered to report to Forrest in Mis- 
sissippi, and to take with him the fragments of three Kentucky 
infantry regiments which had formerly served in Bragg's army. 
Having become decimated in the numerous battles and hardships 
through which they had passed, they had applied for service as 
mounted infantry. As it was impossible for the Confederate gov- 
ernment to furnish them with horses, they were transferred on 
foot to General Forrest's department, and to him the government 
turned for their equipment. General Sherman had paid the Con- 
federate leader a high compliment on his ability to equip his men 
when he said that it was foolishness for him to leave any horses in 
the country through which he passed, since Forrest would be sure 
to steal them if he did not ! 

The Kentuckians joined Forrest near Columbus, Mississippi, 
where he had concentrated the various detachments of his cav- 
alry and had completed the organization of four small brigades.* 

* The First brigade, commanded by Colonel J. J. Neely, comprised the 
Seventh (Colonel W. L. Duckworth), Twelfth (Lieutenant- Colonel J. U. 
Green), Fourteenth (Colonel J. J. Neely), and Fifteenth (Colonel F. M. 
Stewart) Tennessee regiments. 

The Second brigade, commanded by Colonel Robert McCulloch, com- 
prised the Second Missouri (Lieutenant-Colonel R. A. McCulloch). Willis's 
Texas battalion (Lieutenant-Colonel Leo Willis), First Mississippi Partisans 
(Major J. M. Parks), Fifth Mississippi Cavalry (Major W. B. Peery), Nine- 
teenth Mississippi battalion (Lieutenant-Colonel W. L. DufT), Eighteenth 
Mississippi battalion (Lieutenant-Colonel A. H. Chalmers), and McDonald's 
battalion — Forrest's old regiment — (Lieutenant-Colonel J. M. Crews). 

The Third brigade, commanded by Colonel A. P. Thompson, comprised 
the Third (Lieutenant-Colonel G. A. C. Holt), Seventh (Colonel Ed. Cross- 
land), Eighth (Colonel H. B. Lyon), and Twelfth (Faulkner's) Kentucky 
regiments, and Jeffrey Forrest's regiment (Lieutenant - Colonel D. M. Wis- 
dom). 

The Fourth brigade, commanded by General T. H. Bell, comprised the 

325 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B, FORREST 

During the two weeks immediately following the defeat of the 
Meridian expedition, with the exception of Richardson's brigade, 
Forrest's troops were comparatively inactive. General R. V. 
Richardson's brigade had been ordered by General Lee to pro- 
ceed rapidly to Yazoo City, upon the river of that name, there to 
unite with a brigade of cavalry under General L. S. Ross, for the 
purpose of repelling an expedition which was reported to be mov- 
ing upon Grenada from that direction, Richardson and Ross ar- 
rived in front of Yazoo City at eight o'clock on the morning of 
March 5th, and at once attacked the enemy, who took refuge in 
the houses of that town, and in a fort which had been there con- 
structed. The Confederates were defeated with considerable loss, 
Richardson's brigade leaving on the field thirty-seven killed and 
wounded. They then withdrew from the scene of the encounter 
without being pursued, and remained in sight of the enemy until 
they in turn evacuated the place on the following day. 

The men and animals having now thoroughly recuperated from 
the exhaustion following their recent arduous campaign, with im- 
proved equipment and replenished ammunition, and with no im- 
mediate prospect of an incursion into his territory, General For- 
rest, impatient to be at the enemy, determined once more to try 
his fortune in west Tennessee. 

On the 1 8th of March General Hurlbut, at Memphis, de- 
spatched : " It is reported that Forrest, with about seven thou- 
sand men, was at Tupelo last night, bound for west Tennessee. I 
think he means Columbus and Paducah." 

Forrest had, with his entire force, marched northward on the 
15th. Buford's division, comprising Thompson's and Bell's bri- 
gades, with the Seventh Tennessee and McDonald's battalion, 
took the advance, the unmounted Kentuckians trudging along on 
foot, happy at the thought of having their faces turned once more 
to their homes, whither they were now going to replenish their 
wardrobes and to secure horses to carry them henceforth with 
the " Wizard of the Saddle." 

Second (Colonel C. R. Barteau), Sixteenth (Colonel A. N. Wilson), and 
Twentieth (R. M. Russell) Tennessee regiments. 

Neely's and McCuUoch's brigades were formed into one division, which 
was placed under Brigadier-General James R. Chalmers, while Thompson's 
and Bell's were organized into another division under General A. Buford. 

326 




'-,: ^, 



COLONEL DUCKWORTH'S STRATEGY 

By March 20th the mounted troops had reached Jackson, Ten- 
nessee, and from here Colonel Crews was sent with his battalion 
in the direction of Memphis, to keep a sharp lookout for the ad- 
vance of any Federal force from that direction ; while Colonel 
Wilson, with his regiment, was left to garrison Jackson and to 
prepare for the reception of Buford's dismounted men, who would 
arrive in two or three days. On the 22d of March General For- 
rest, with his escort, the Seventh Tennessee and Twelfth Ken- 
tucky regiments, proceeded to Trenton to take possession of this 
borough and establish there a bureau for recruits. On the 23d 
Colonel Duckworth was given command of a detachment consist- 
ing of his own regiment, the Seventh Tennessee, and of Faulk- 
ner's regiment, to which McDonald's battalion, marching towards 
Memphis, was ordered to report and move with them for the capt- 
ure of Union City. Early on the morning of the 24th Colonel 
Duckworth arrived in front of this place and at once proceeded to 
invest it. Closing in upon the garrison on all sides, some lively 
skirmishing ensued, in which several of the Confederates were 
wounded, and as a result of which the Federals were driven within 
a strong redoubt constructed near the railroad station. As Duck- 
worth was without artillery, and the garrison, numbering five hun- 
dred men, was too strong to justify an assault on his part, he deter- 
mined to effect by strategy what he could not accomplish by force. 
He was encouraged to take this course in good part from his ac- 
quaintance with the character of the Federal officer in command 
of the garrison. This person was Colonel Hawkins, of the Second 
West Tennessee Cavalry, who on a former occasion, during For- 
rest's first raid into west Tennessee in 1862, had been surprised 
and so easily taken in then that he was not now held by Forrest's 
men to be a dangerous or hard - fighting antagonist. Colonel 
Duckworth, a man whose experience as a physician as well as a 
minister of a large congregation had not been without value in 
turning him out a diplomatist, knowing the weight that Forrest's 
name would have, sent with a flag of truce a demand for surren- 
der written in Forrest's blood-curdling style and with his name 
attached. It stated that as he had invested the place with a view 
of its capture, and was prepared by reason of the superior force 
he had on the ground to take the place by storm, in order to pre- 
vent the loss of life which would necessarily follow a bloody as- 

327 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

sault he now gave him the opportunity to surrender, promising him 
that he and his men would be treated as prisoners of war. Other- 
wise he would not be responsible for the fate of the garrison. The 
Federal commander, who was aware that reinforcements were 
coming towards him at that time, pleaded for time to consider 
the proposition. On the 23d of March he had wired General 
Mason Brayman that Forrest was approaching, and at that time 
was about sixty miles away. General Brayman had immediately 
assembled a force of some two thousand men and started for 
Union City. He says: " I became satisfied that Union City was 
the point of attack." He had already notified Colonel Hawkins 
that he was coming, and expected him to hold out until rescued. 
The Federal commander, in reply to Duckworth's summons to sur- 
render, declined unless he could have a personal interview with 
General Forrest. As Forrest was not present, this would have 
" checked " an ordinary man ; but Colonel Duckworth was not an 
ordinary man, and his cunning was equal to the occasion. Turn- 
ing shortly on his heel, he remarked to Hawkins that he didn't 
care whether he surrendered or not ; that General Forrest was not 
in the habit of holding interviews with officers not of his own 
rank, and that if he didn't make up his mind to surrender within 
five minutes he would charge the place and not spare a single 
member of his command. This threat, with the alternative of kind 
treatment, which Hawkins knew he would get, because he had sur- 
rendered to this command once before, induced him to capitu- 
late. Greatly to the chagrin of General Brayman, who was at that 
time only six miles away, with reinforcements sufficient to have 
picked Duckworth's command up and marched away with it, the 
garrison laid down its arms. He says: "At 11 A.M. on the 
morning of the 25th I was within six miles of Union City, and 
there learned with pain and surprise that Colonel Hawkins had 
surrendered at eleven o'clock, and had with his force been removed 
and his fortifications destroyed. The force of the enemy does not 
appear to be more than a quarter of the number represented, and 
without artillery. The number of men surrendered is probably 
five hundred; all were armed and equipped — about three hundred 
mounted ; a few mules and wagons and a considerable amount of 
public property were lost and destroyed. Colonel Hawkins and 
his command had been recently paid for over a year's service, and 

328 




COLONEI. \V. I.. I);:CK\VORTH 
Seventh Tennessee Cavalry 



ATTACK ON PADUCAH 

the aggregate of individual loss on the part of the officers and sol- 
diers will reach some $60,000." * 

Selecting a detachment to convoy the prisoners southward, and 
sending McDonald's battalion on towards Memphis, as directed by 
General Forrest, Colonel Duckworth removed the supplies which 
were needed and portable, set fire to all which could not be taken 
away, and straightway marched to rejoin the main command in 
the neighborhood of Jackson. While he had been moving on 
Union City, General Forrest, from Trenton, with a portion of Bu- 
ford's division from near Jackson, had pressed farther northward 
for the purpose of attacking the garrison stationed at Paducah. 

On the 26th of March Captain H. A. Tyler, with his company 
and two other detachments of Confederates, was .sent in advance 
of General Buford's troops to dash into Paducah along several 
separate roads, in order to drive the enemy to their gunboats and 
into the fort. This fort at Paducah was a strong earthwork, situ- 
ated in the western portion of the town, near the bank of the Ten- 
nessee River. It was surrounded by a deep ditch, in front of which 
fallen timber had been formed into an abattis. It was garrisoned 
by 665 men, commanded by a brave and resolute officer — Colonel 
S. G. Hicks, of the Fortieth Illinois Infantry. These advanced 
companies were followed by other detachments of Forrest's com- 
mand, and, crowding up as close to the fort as was advisable, under 
the protection of the houses they opened a brisk fire upon the 
Federals in the fort, as well as those on board the gunboats at the 
landing. After about one hour of this firing General Forrest sent 
a flag of truce to Colonel Hicks with a demand for the surrender 
of the garrison. It was couched in language almost identical with 
that used by Forrest on all former occasions, stating tha'' he had 
a force amply sufficient to storm the works, but in order to avoid 
the unnecessary effusion of blood he demanded the surrender of 
the troops, with all public property. " If you surrender you shall 
be treated as prisoners ot war, but if I have to storm your works 
you may expect no quarter." f The plucky Federal colonel, how- 
ever, did not intend to give up without a fight. 

Forrest had no intention of making a needless sacrifice of his 
troops in an assault. His object was to hold the Federals there 

* Official Records, vol. xxxii. part i. p. 503. t Ibid. p. 547. 

T-9 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

and on board of their gunboats until he could remove all the sup- 
plies and horses which could be obtained in Paducah. The casual- 
ties in his command at this time had been insignificant, amounting 
to not more than five or six men wounded. Unfortunately one of 
his brigade officers, Colonel A. P. Thompson, without authority 
from Forrest, having at the head of his command reached a point 
where the street along which he had marched opened out upon 
the space in which the fort was situated, concluded to attempt to 
capture the garrison by a sudden assault 

Captain H. A. Tyler, who was present, says: "With my com- 
pany I had reached a point where the fort or stockade into which 
the Federals had retreated was in plain view across the open space. 
My men had been firing at the Federals running to get into the 
stockade, and at those already firing back at us from the embank- 
ment, but we had not suffered any material loss, by reason of the 
protection afforded by the houses. About this time Colonel A. 
P. Thompson, moving at the head of his brigade, came up the 
street to where I was, and in answer to my inquiry as to what was 
next to be done, replied : * I am going to take that fort.' Sup- 
posing that the charge had been ordered by General Forrest, and 
being too far away from my own regiment to join it in time, I 
asked permission to accompany him in this assault, and rode away 
by his side. Just as we reached the open space he gave the com- 
mand to charge, and we dashed forward in a wild rush in the di- 
rection of the fort. The enemy opened upon us with a most terrific 
volley. Colonel Thompson was slain and a number of the troops 
killed or wounded by this discharge. The rest of us sought safety 
in a rapid retreat, taking shelter in and behind the houses, from 
which we resumed our fire." * 

In his official report of this affair General Forrest says : " I 
drove the enemy to their gunboats and fort, and held the town 
for ten hours ; captured many stores and horses ; burned sixty bales 
of cotton, one steamer, and a dry-dock, bringing out fifty prisoners. 
My loss, as far as known, is twenty-five killed and wounded, among 
them Colonel A. P. Thompson." f 

Returning from Paducah with his captured horses and prison- 

* Manuscripts of Captain H. A. Tyler, in possession of the author, 
t Official Records, vol. xxxii. part i. p. 607. 

330 



REPORT OF OPERATIONS IN WEST TENNESSEE 

ers, a portion of Buford's division was sent in the direction of 
Mayfield, in southwestern Kentucky, and there his troops were 
temporarily disbanded and permitted to visit their homes, to re- 
plenish their clothing and improve their mounts, under promise 
to report at Trenton on the 3d of April. To the lasting honor of 
these men be it said that not one took advantage of this oppor- 
tunity to desert the cause in which he had enlisted. 

The report of General Forrest, made from Jackson, Tennessee, 
on April 4th, is worthy of reproduction in its entirety, for the rea- 
son that it not only shows how busily engaged he and his troops 
were in harassing the Federals and in gathering up recruits, but it 
gives some idea of the energy displayed in securing much-needed 
supplies for the Confederate army. It shows, moreover, the clear 
conception in his mind of the plans and coming movements of the 
enemy. 

" Headquarters Forrest's Cavalry Department, 
"Jackson, Tennessee, April \, 1864. 

" I desire respectfully and briefly to state that Lieutenant-Colonel Crews, 
commanding battalion, met the enemy yesterday morning, and after a sharp 
little engagement repulsed and drove them back to Raleigh. The enemy's 
force was two regiments of cavalry of Grierson's command. The fight oc- 
curred fifteen miles east of Raleigh, on Somerville road. Colonel Crews 
lost : one man severely and one slightly wounded. The enemy had six 
killed and fifteen or twenty wounded and three prisoners. 

" In all engagements so far in west Tennessee my loss in the aggregate is 
fifteen killed and forty-two wounded. Among the killed. Colonel Thomp- 
son, commanding Kentucky brigade, whose death was reported to you by 
telegraph. Lieutenant-Colonel Lannum, of Faulkner's regiment, reported 
mortally wounded, is, I am glad to say, rapidly recovering. 

"The loss of the enemy thus far is as follows: 79 killed, 102 wounded, 
and 612 captured. 

" I have, as far as prudent, allowed my troops an opportunity of going home. 
Am now concentrating and preparing for any move the enemy may make, 
or for offensive operations, provided they do not move on me. I feel con- 
fident of my ability to whip any cavalry they can send against me, and can, 
if necessary, avoid their infantry. If permitted to remain in west Tennes- 
see, or, rather, if it is not the purpose of the lieutenant-general commanding 
to order me elsewhere until driven out by the enemy, would be glad to have 
my artillery with me, and will send for it, as I could operate effectively with 
my rifle battery on the rivers. With the small guns I have here it would 
be folly to attempt the destruction or capture of boats. I am yet in hopes 
the lieutenant-general, commanding will repair and operate the railroad to 

331 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

Corinth, as suggested in a former letter. I, of course, cannot tell what de- 
mands are being made on him for troops, but am clearly of opinion that 
with a brigade of infantry at Corinth, as a force upon which I could fall 
back if too hard pressed, that I can hold west Tennessee against three 
times my numbers, and could send rapidly out from here all conscripts and 
deserters for service in infantry. At present it is impracticable, as I am 
without the transportation necessary to supply them with rations to Oko- 
lona, through a country already depleted and whose inhabitants are sufTer- 
ing for food. I find corn scarcer than I had thought, but have plenty of 
meal, flour, and bacon for troops. If supplied with the right kind of money 
or cotton, can furnish my command with all small-arm ammunition re- 
quired, and I think with small arms also. 

"General Chalmers is here, and will be kept in readiness for any move 
that may be made from Memphis. General Buford's division is above this, 
and concentrating at Eaton, ten miles west of Trenton. As I came up here 
I employed a man to get up lead. He writes me that he has from eight 
to ten thousand pounds, which I shall send out as soon as possible, and will 
continue to get up all that can be had. There is a Federal force of five or 
six hundred at Fort Pillow, which I shall attend to in a day or two, as they 
have horses and supplies which we need. There are about six thousand 
troops now at Memphis — all else gone up the river. // is clear that they 
are concentrating all their available force before Richmond and at Chatta- 
nooga.* They have attempted to send their cavalry across the country to 
Pulaski, Tennessee. Have driven them back, and hope yet to be able to 
make them take water. I have ordered everything belonging to my com- 
mand at Columbus moved up to Aberdeen, and Morton's battery up to Tu- 
pelo to report to General Gholson, and shall bring it on here unless ordered 
to the contrary, as the little guns I have are of no use to me. You will 
please send any orders or despatches for me through General Gholson, at 
Tupelo. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

" N. B. Forrest, Major-General Commanding," 

While operating in the neighborhood of Paducah, General For- 
rest, as shown in the above report to General Polk, had ordered 
General Chalmers to follow him into west Tennessee, and bring 
with him all the scattered remnants of his command, which had 
been on duty in various parts of northern Mississippi. Moving 
north, one of these detachments, under Colonel J. J. Neely, arriv- 
ing at Bolivar on the 29th, had come in contact with a battalion 
of west Tennessee Union troops commanded by a bitter partisan, 
Colonel Fielding Hurst. Neely made short work in the encounter 

* Italics not in original. 
332 



BUFORD'S CAPTURE OF PADUCAH 

which resulted, killing and wounding quite a number, capturing 
some prisoners, their wagon-train, and a supply of ammunition 
which the Southern troopers much needed at this time. Chal- 
mers had come up by way of La Grange, and here he furnished 
a strong guard for the six hundred prisoners which Forrest 
had captured and sent south. In the first week of April, Gen- 
eral Buford, whose troops, having been furloughed, had reported 
promptly at Trenton, was ordered by General Forrest to proceed 
again in the direction of Columbus and Paducah, not only to ob- 
tain additional horses and supplies for his cavalry, but also to 
make a diversion in favor of a movement that General Forrest 
was now contemplating for the capture of Fort Pillow and its 
garrison, and the horses which, in his report, he says he "very 
much needed."* Buford arrived in the neighborhood of Colum- 
bus on the I2th of April, the same day upon which Fort Pillow 
fell. Here he detached his trusted subordinate. Captain H. A. 
Tyler, with a picked detachment of about one hundred and fifty 
men, to make a demonstration on Columbus. General Buford 
having learned from one of his scouts that since the former at- 
tack on Paducah a number of horses and mules belonging to the 
Union government had been collected there for distribution, de- 
termined to make a rapid descent upon the place for the purpose 
of securing these animals, and started at once for that point, 
where he arrived unexpectedly on the morning of the 14th. 
Advancing on the place with a great show of force, he drove the 
Federals once more to their gunboats, which were lying at the 
dock, and into the fort, and held them there long enough to ob- 
tain the horses which had been the object of his expedition, com- 
ing off successfully with about one hundred and fifty excellent 
animals. As a part of his movement, as soon as he had driven 
the pickets in he sent a flag of truce to the Federal commander, 
with a note, to which the name of General Forrest was signed, de- 
manding the surrender of the garrison and fort, and threatening 
to give no quarter if he were compelled to carry the place by 
assault. Meanwhile Captain Tyler was carrying out the same 
** game of bluff" upon the commandant of the post at Columbus. 
Arriving in sight of the place, Captain Tyler states that he 

* Official Records, vol. xxxii. part i. p. 609. 
333 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

marched his men across an open space on a hill in full view of the 
garrison, repeating the circuit several times and changing the 
position of the horses in order to create the impression that he 
had a large number of men with him.* He then sent in a flag of 
truce demanding the surrender, to which he signed General Bu- 
ford's name. It was practically a copy of the note sent by Gen- 
eral Buford at Paducah under Forrest's name, and of other notes 
demanding surrender that Forrest had himself dictated. 

" Headquarters Confederate Forces, 

" Before Columbus, Kentucky, April 13, 1864. 
" The Commanding Officer United States Forces, Columbus, Kentucky : 

" Fully capable of taking Columbus and its garrison by force, I desire to 
avoid the shedding of blood, and therefore demand the unconditional sur- 
render of the forces under your command. Should you surrender, the ne- 
groes now in arms will be returned to their masters. Should I, however, be 
compelled to take the place, no quarter will be shown to the negro troops 
whatever ; the white troops will be treated as prisoners of war. 

" I am, sir, yours, 

"A. Buford, Brigadier-General." t 

Although there were only one hundred and fifty men engaged 
in this diversion, it is worthy of comment to note how much im- 
portance was attached to it by the commander of the post at that 
time, who on April 13th says: "The only information we could 
obtain was that they had a division under Buford, principally of 
mounted infantry." There is also published his reply to Tyler's 
demand for the surrender, in which he says that " surrender is out 
of the question." 

About forty miles in a direct line northward, or up the Missis- 
sippi River from Memphis, a bar of sand and mud stretches from 
the western or Arkansas bank across this mighty stream well over 
to the opposite or Tennessee shore. In the lowest stage of water 
much of this obstruction to navigation is for several months of 
each year many feet above the surface of the river, and spreads 
out, a flat, monotonous plain, as dry and verdureless as a patch of 
the Libyan Desert. Acting as a dam, it has turned the current 
or channel of the Mississippi close in to the eastern shore, so that 

* Diary of Captain Tyler, in the author's possession, 
t Official Records, vol. xxxii. part i. p. 553. 
334 



THE SITUATION OF FORT PILLOW 

for the greater portion of the year all manner of craft which ply 
the Father of Waters are forced to steer within a stone's-throw of 
the Tennessee side. 

Just opposite to the " point " of this bar, emptying into the Mis- 
sissippi from the east, and almost perpendicular to its course, is a 
small stream known as Coal Creek. In the angle of junction of 
this creek with the river, and stretching back along the south shore 
of the estuary, and along the river as well, there is a high clay bluff 
which slants rather sharply (yet not precipitately) from the crum- 
bling edge above, some seventy-five to one hundred feet, to the 
water-line below. Fort Pillow was constructed upon this angular 
bluff. 

Early in the war, when General Gideon J. Pillow was in com- 
mand of the Tennessee troops, he recognized the strength and im- 
portance of this position in commanding the traffic of the Missis- 
sippi, and commenced the fortifications which, when completed, 
were named in his honor. Three separate lines of works were 
constructed. The most exterior, which at the greatest convexity 
was about six hundred yards from the river, extended from the 
bank of Coal Creek above to the bluff of the river below — a dis- 
tance of nearly two miles along the trench, which was slightly 
curved outward, or to the east. There was the usual ditch in 
front, with the earth thrown up on the inner edge of the excava- 
tion. About half-way between this trench and the river, and im- 
mediately in front of the fort which was stormed, a second defence, 
covering about two acres of ground, was constructed along the 
crest of a commanding hill. The third, and strongest of all, which 
was taken by Forrest's men at the final assault, was a small fort 
built just at the angle of junction of the river bluff with that of 
Coal Creek, extending in irregular semicircular outline from bluff 
to bluff. From one end of this horseshoe to the other, as meas- 
ured along the edge of the bank, the distance was about seventy 
yards. Walking along the parapet, from end to end, the distance 
was about one hundred and twenty yards. The earth wall or 
parapet was six feet high, six feet thick, and flat on top. Exterior 
to this was a ditch twelve feet wide and eight feet deep. Along 
the inner face of the parapet a bench was constructed, upon which 
the garrison could stand and fire over the wall, with nothing ex- 
posed below the head and shoulders. From this they could step 

335 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

down to the ground to load their guns, and be entirely concealed. 
At six places there were protected openings or embrasures, through 
each of which a cannon commanded the approaches from as many 
directions. Along the face or slope of the bluff, above and below, 
and about seventy-five yards distant from each end of the embank- 
ment, rifle-pits had been constructed for defending the approaches 
from either direction near the water's edge, and to shelter sharp- 
shooters while firing at boats upon the river. Looking eastward 
and along the bank of Coal Creek from the edge of the ditch for 
a distance of about one hundred and fifty feet, the surface of the 
earth descends gradually and then sharply down into a crescent- 
shaped ravine which encircles the fort for nearly one-half of its ex- 
tent. This hollow opens into Coal Creek bluff, near the mouth of 
this stream, and is known as the Coal Creek ravine. 

On the south side of Fort Pillow there is another depression, 
well marked, yet not so precipitate as that just described. The 
deepest portion of this ravine is about four hundred and fifty feet 
from the parapet, and the ground surface descends gradually to 
the bottom of the ravine. At the time of the battle, along the 
deeper portions of this depression there were two rows of log- 
cabins or shanties, extending from the mouth of the ravine on the 
river-bank almost to a point opposite the centre of the fort in 
front. These structures were used for government and private 
storehouses, and for bunks for the white soldiers of the garrison. 
Within the fort proper, and rather near the bank, were erected 
a number of tents, with plank floors covered with dry straw, for 
the use of the negro troops. 

In the rear of the fort the face of the river bluff was covered 
with trees and bushes, a portion of which had been cut down, 
leaving the stumps, logs, and brush half buried in the mud, with 
here and there a tree still standing. Just below the fort and near 
the log-houses in the south ravine the bank had been cleared to 
enable steamboats to land with safety. Beyond the Coal Creek 
ravine to the north and east, and in front of the fort for two- 
thirds of its extent, the contour of the ground is broken into 
a series of irregular hillocks or knolls, with intervening depres- 
sions or gullies. Many of these elevations are as high as that 
upon which Fort Pillow was erected, and vary in distance from 
one to four hundred yards from the parapet. For fully four hun- 

336 



PREPARING TO ATTACK FORT PILLOW 

dred yards from the fort, and in every direction, most of the larger 
trees had been felled and the undergrowth cut away, so that an 
enemy could not approach without exposure. As this work was 
done in 1861 and 1862, the stumps and logs were still on the 
ground, and a considerable undergrowth had been reproduced in 
the two years which had elapsed. 

I have thus carefully and at length described this stronghold and 
the topography of the ground immediately about it, as a knowledge 
of these features is essential to a proper comprehension of the great 
tragedy which happened here on the 12th of April, 1864. 

Major-General Stephen A. Hurlbut, who commanded this mili- 
tary district, with headquarters at Memphis, deemed Fort Pillow 
of sufficient importance, even when no enemy was in west Ten- 
nessee, to keep it well garrisoned, and also to use it as a recruit- 
ing-post and place of refuge for fugitive slaves, and other citi- 
zens of the regions roundabout, who might desire the protection 
of the United States. He testified in 1864 that "the steamboat 
channel at Fort Pillow runs right under the bluff, and brings 
every boat within musket-shot of the shore. A couple of guns 
mounted up above would stop most effectively the navigation of 
the river," etc.* 

At the time of the fight, according to the official report of 
Lieutenant -Colonel T. H. Harris, Assistant Adjutant -General, 
dated April 26th, the garrison at Fort Pillow consisted of the First 
Battalion, Sixth United States Heavy Artillery (colored), 8 com- 
missioned officers and 213 men; one section Company D, Second 
United States Light Artillery (colored), i commissioned officer 
and 40 men ; First Battalion, Thirteenth Tennessee Cavalry, Ma- 
jor W. F. Bradford, 10 commissioned officers and 285 enlisted 
men. Total white troops, 295 ; total colored troops, 262 ; grand 
total, 557. Six field-pieces, two 6-pounders, two 12-pounder how- 
itzers, and two lo-pounder Parrotts. In addition to the enlisted 
troops there were in the fort about twenty white men (non-com- 
batants), some of whom took an active part in the defence of 
the position. On March 28th, Major L. F. Booth, by order of 
General S. A. Hurlbut, had been placed in command of this po- 
sition. Next in rank was Major W. F. Bradford, a native Ten- 

* Rebellion Record, vol. viii. 
Y 337 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

nesseean, with whom the post-commander was advised to "confer 
freely." Major Bradford was recommended as " a good officer, 
though not of much experience," The order to Booth says : 
" There are two points of land fortified at Fort Pillow. You will 
occupy both, either with your own troops alone, or holding one 
with yours and giving the other in charge to Major Bradford. 
The positions are commanding, and can be held by a small force 
against almost any odds."* Hurlbut adds: "I think Forrest's 
check at Paducah will not dispose him to try the river again. 
Nevertheless, act promptly in putting the works into perfect 
order and the post into its strongest defence." On April 3d 
Booth wrote his general : " Everything is quiet within a radius of 
thirty or forty miles around, and I do not think any apprehen- 
sions need be felt or fears entertained in reference to this place 
being attacked or even threatened; I think it perfectly safe."f 
On the next day, April 4th, Forrest, who was at Jackson, Tennes- 
see, fifty-five miles distant, also wrote to his commanding ofificer, 
Lieutenant-General Polk, as follows : " There is a Federal force 
of five or six hundred at Fort Pillow which I shall attend to in a 
day or two, as they have horses and supplies which we need." :j: 

Thus, in fancied security on the part of the Union commander 
and a determination on the part of the Confederate to appropriate 
the much-needed horses and supplies of the garrison, stood affairs 
as the 1 2th of April approached. On the loth of this month, 
while General Buford was absent in Kentucky, Major -General 
Forrest, with his command at and near Jackson, Tennessee, placed 
Brigadier-General James R. Chalmers in charge of the movement 
against Fort Pillow, and this ofificer made the following disposition 
of his troops: The First brigade, Colonel J. J. Neely commanding, 
marched rapidly from Whiteville towards Memphis with orders 
to spread the report, so that it would get to Hurlbut's ears in 
Memphis, that Forrest's whole command was coming that way 
to attack him. At the same time. Colonel John McGuirk, with 
the Third Mississippi State Cavalry and the First Mississippi 
Partisans, was ordered to advance on that city from the south 
and to let it be known that General S. D. Lee was also advanc- 

* Official Records, vol. xxxii. part i. p. 556. t Ibid. p. 557. 

\ Ibid. p. 609. 

338 



ATTACK UPON FORT PILLOW 

ing with all his troops to join in the attack. Neely moved 
swiftly to Wolf River, almost in sight of Memphis, and made a 
great show of building pontoon-bridges and other structures for 
throwing a large force across this stream, while McGuirk drove in 
the pickets from the southern side, and made his presence felt in 
the suburbs of Memphis. The strategy of Chalmers was not with- 
out the desired effect upon General Hurlbut. On April 15th he 
reported : " I have ordered up the four regiments of the third di- 
vision of the Seventeenth Corps, now in Vicksburg, as soon as 
practicable, that I may have some movable troops." * 

While these detachments of the Confederates were manceuvring 
around Memphis, a fragment of one division, made up respec- 
tively of portions of McCulloch's and Bell's brigades, under 
General Chalmers, moved on the nth from Sharon's ferry, on 
Forked Deer Creek, towards Brownsville, and thence on towards 
Fort Pillow by a rapid all-night march of forty miles without 
stopping. The Confederates were fortunate in securing as a 
guide Mr. W. J. Shaw, a citizen of this vicinity, who had re- 
cently been arrested by Major Bradford and confined within the 
limits of the fort.* Having escaped on the nth, he was entirely 
familiar with the topography of the enclosure, as well as the 
number of troops defending the works. Approaching just at 
break of day, Colonel McCulloch with his brigade was given the 
advance, and this excellent soldier despatched the Second Missouri 
Cavalry under Lieutenant-Colonel R. A. McCulloch, with directions 
to drive in the pickets and feel their way to the vicinity of the 
Federal camp. All the Confederates advanced to the charge the 
moment the rifles were cracking at the picket-line, and so sudden 
was the attack that the Federals abandoned the entire outer line 
of defences without serious resistance. Forrest, who with his es- 
cort and some of Wisdom's regiment was following in the rear, 
had directed Chalmers to invest the stronghold in order to pre- 
vent the garrison from running away, and then await his arrival. 
McCulloch's brigade advanced rapidly down the Fulton road to 
Gaines's farm, then north to the fort on a road running parallel 

* Official Records, vol. xxxii. part i. p. 551. 

t Personal narrative by Captain W. J. Shaw, of Forked Deer, Tennessee, 
in possession of the author. Captain Shaw enlisted in Forrest's command 
^fter this fight. 

339 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

with the Mississippi River, bringing his troops in sight of the re- 
doubt from the side upon which the stores and barracks were 
situated. Wilson's regiment of Bell's brigade moved on the direct 
road from Brownsville to Fort Pillow, while Barteau's and Rus- 
sell's regiments marched west along th& bank of Coal Creek and 
came into position from the north side. 

While these movements were being made the skirmishers of 
the garrison, consisting of Companies D and E of the Thirteenth 
Tennessee (Union) Cavalry, and the advance-line of the Confeder- 
ates were briskly engaged, the artillery of the fort firing furious- 
ly over the heads of the Union skirmishers. Adjutant Mack J. 
Leaming, of this regiment, reports that these companies about 
8 A.M. were compelled to retire to the fort after considerable 
fighting, in which Lieutenant Barr, of Company D, was killed. 
" The firing continued without cessation, principally from behind 
logs, stumps, and under cover of thick underbrush, and from high 
knolls. We suffered pretty severely in the loss of commissioned 
officers by the unerring aim of the rebel sharp-shooters^* and among 
this loss I have to record our post commander. Major L. F. Booth, 
who was killed almost instantly by a musket-ball through the 
breast." f 

Colonel Robert McCulloch, coming in range of the fort, now 
advanced cautiously, his men taking advantage of logs, stumps, 
and knolls, and slipping along the gullies and ravines with the 
dexterity of frontiersmen. In this way, shielded from the artil- 
lery of the fort, which was firing with rapidity, while the gun- 
boat New Era, well out in the river, and directed by signals 
from the garrison,;}: was throwing shells from its battery on all 
parts of the Confederate line, they reached a position within 
three hundred yards of the fort. On the side nearest to Co?l 
Creek, Bell had in like cautious yet steady manner, but not 
without brisk skirmishing, advanced his lines to a point about 
two hundred and fifty yards from the parapet. Colonel Wilson, 
directly in front, together with the right of McCulloch's line, 
had, at an earlier hour, in a brilliant dash, driven the Federals 
out of the middle redoubt, which they now occupied, and were 

* Italics not in original. 

+ Official Records, vol. xxxii. part i. p. 559. J Ibid. p. 620. 



11 



ATTACK UPON FORT PILLOW 

thoroughly protected behind the east face of the breastworks, and 
only three hundred yards away from the fort yet to be assaulted. 
Having, as instructed by his superior, invested the stronghold so 
thoroughly that escape was impossible, General Chalmers made 
no further effort to advance, but kept up a continuous fire from 
his sharp-shooters at any of the garrison who exposed themselves. 
This was the general position of the troops when, at ii A.M., 
General Forrest with his escort and a detachment of Colonel Wis- 
dom's regiment arrived and assumed command. Colonel Robert 
McCulloch says : " About eleven o'clock General N. B. Forrest 
arrived, and, after a survey of the ground and the lines we had es- 
tablished, asked me what I thought of capturing the barracks and 
houses which were near the fort and between it and my position. 
I replied that if I could get possession of the houses I could 
silence the enemy's artillery. He then said, ' Go ahead and take 
them.' I made the charge in short order, and very soon had my 
men in and behind the houses, from which the artillery on that 
side was silenced by sharp-shooters."* Adjutant Leaming, of the 
Thirteenth Tennessee (Union) Cavalry, in his report, already cited, 
days: "At about ii A.M. the rebels made a second determined 
assault on our works, and were again successfully repulsed with 
severe loss. They succeeded, however, in getting possession of 
two rows of barracks running parallel to the south side of the 
fort and distant about one hundred and fifty yards. The barracks 
had previously been ordered to be destroyed, but after severe loss 
on our part in the attempt to execute the order our men were 
compelled to retire without accomplishing the desired end, save 
only to the roiv nearest to the fort. From these barracks the en- 
emy kept up a murderous fire on our men despite all our efforts 
to dislodge him. Owing to the close proximity of these buildings 
to the fort, and to the fact that they were on considerably lower 
ground, our artillery could not be sufficiently depressed to destroy 
them or even render them U7itenable for the enemy." f Especial 
attention is called to this official report of the adjutant of this 
regiment. It is a positive admission, and shows beyond all 
shadow of doubt that McCulloch's brigade was in position in 

* Private manuscript in possession of the author. 
t Italics not in original. 
341 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

this ravine, where it was shielded from the fire from the fort long 
before the flag of truce was sent in. 

It was characteristic of Forrest that, no matter how much con- 
fidence he had in his officers, he never intrusted to any one the 
task of making him acquainted with the strength of a point to 
be assailed, the topography of the ground to be traversed, or the 
various obstacles to be overcome. He was after success first, and 
with the smallest possible loss of men. Hard fighter as he was, 
and even reckless of all when occasion demanded, he took infinite 
pains to shield his faithful soldiers when he could. 

His first act on reaching the field at Fort Pillow was to increase 
largely the corps of sharp-shooters on every commanding position, 
and these were instructed to shoot at anything which showed 
itself from the fort. They were directed to crawl up behind logs 
and stumps and get as close as possible. He then made a close 
and careful study of the ground from one end of the crescent to 
the other. The rifles from the fort soon began to single him out, 
and almost before the reconnaissance had begun his horse re- 
ceived a shot which wounded it mortally and rendered the un- 
fortunate animal so frantic from pain or fright that it reared and 
fell over upon the general, who was badly bruised by the acci- 
dent.* He, however, was soon mounted on another horse, and 
continued the survey of the enemy's position. Major Charles W, 
Anderson (then captain and acting adjutant-general on the staff), 
who was riding with the general at this time, begged him to dis- 
mount and make the inspection on foot, but Forrest made no other 
reply than that he was "just as apt to be hit one way as another, 
and that he could see better where he was." Before the day was 
over two other horses that he was riding were shot, one being 
killed, the other slightly wounded. More than an hour was con- 
sumed in this reconnaissance, and nearly two hours elapsed before 
the ammunition-wagon, which could not keep up with the rapid 
movements of the column, arrived on the scene and the cartridge- 
boxes were refilled. 

It was now one o'clock, and Forrest ordered the advance of the 
troops under Colonels Bell and Wilson to a line fully as near the 
fort as that which McCuUoch on the south had earlier in the day 

* Narrative of Captain Shaw, the guide, and of Major Anderson. 

342 



ATTACK UPON FORT PILLOW 

secured. While making the reconnaissance, General Forrest had 
at once perceived the great advantage which was offered by the 
ravine that circumvented the parapet on the north or Coal Creek 
side, as far as the position of Colonel Wilson in front, and realized 
that, if he could get his men once in that sharp depression, they 
would be so far beneath the fort that the artillery could not be suf- 
ficiently depressed to strike them, and they would then be as safe 
there as were McCulloch's troops on the other side. To make a 
rush for this point for two or three hundred yards would expose 
him to great loss, for although there were numerous depressions 
intervening, there were just as many hill -tops which could be 
swept by the artillery and small arms from the east and north 
faces of the parapet. By moving cautiously along the face of the 
bluff of Coal Creek, Colonel C. R. Barteau, who was on the ex- 
treme right, after considerable time succeeded in placing his Sec- 
ond Tennessee regiment, not without some loss, however, in this 
ravine, where they were not more than seventy-five yards from 
the fort. Colonel (afterwards General) T. H. Bell, one of Forrest's 
bravest and most capable officers, had to exercise greater precau- 
tion and consume more time in moving the balance of his line 
to this advanced position. It was finally accomplished under 
the protection of the heavy body of sharp-shooters, which, as 
Bell's troops would rush over the exposed places, would open in 
lively fashion at any men of the garrison who would show their 
heads and shoulders in the endeavor to fire upon the advancing 
line. Meanwhile the gunboat New Era, scarcely without cessa- 
tion, shelled the Confederates as they were skirmishing and ma- 
noeuvring for the positions now obtained, and it was not without 
serious loss that the Confederates were able to advance practi- 
cally into the teeth of their adversaries. Feeling assured now 
that he could take the fort by a quick rush, and hoping that he 
could convince the commander of the fort of this fact and save 
any further loss of life, Forrest, who had ridden to a knoll some 
four hundred yards distant, directed General Chalmers to dis- 
play a flag of truce and to ask for a parley. This was between 
3 and 3.30 p.m., and firing immediately ceased. Captain Wal- 
ter A. Goodman, of Chalmers's staff, was selected to convey 
the following message, which was written by, and is copied from 
the original now in possession of. Major Charles W. Anderson : 

343 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

" Headquarters Forrest's Cavalry, 

" Before Fort Pillow, April I2, 1864. 
" Major Booth, Commanding United States Forces, Fort Pillow : 

" Major, — The conduct of the officers and men garrisoning Fort Pillow 
has been such as to entitle them to being treated as prisoners of war. I 
demand the unconditional surrender of this garrison, promising you that you 
shall be treated as prisoners of war. My men have received a fresh supply 
of ammunition, and from their present position can easily assault and capt- 
ure the fort. Should my demand be refused, I cannot be responsible for 

the fate of your command. Respectfully, 

" N. B. Forrest, 

" Major-General Commanding." 

The Federal commander, as soon as the truce was indicated by 
the Confederates, had answered by his flag and by signalling the 
gunboat, which, with the garrison, immediately ceased all hostili- 
ties. Captain Goodman, accompanied by Captain Thomas Hen- 
derson, commanding scouts, and Lieutenant Frank Rodgers, now 
advanced towards the fort with their white flag, approaching 
from the rear of McCulloch's advanced position, along the river- 
bank from the south. Adjutant Leaming (Union) says: "At 
3.30 P.M. firing suddenly ceased, in consequence of the appear- 
ance of a white flag displayed by the enemy; the party bear- 
ing the flag was halted about one hundred and fifty yards from 
the fort, when we were informed by one of the party that they 
had a communication from General Forrest to the command- 
ing ofificer of the United States forces at Fort Pillow. I was 
ordered out, accompanied by Captains Bradford and Young, to 
receive this communication, which I took back to the fort, while 
the party bearing the same remained for an answer." * As the 
bearers of the flag of truce were approaching the fort, along the 
river-bank, they observed the smoke of a steamer which was ap- 
proaching from above, and a messenger was immediately de- 
spatched to inform General Forrest of the fact that a boat loaded 
with Federal troops was coming down the river towards the land- 
ing at Fort Pillow, and presumably to reinforce the garrison. Gen- 
eral Forrest rode as rapidly as he could from his position, which 
was four hundred yards distant, and required a considerable detour 
on account of the conformation of the ground and of the fallen 

* Official Records, vol. xxxii. part i. p. 560. 
344 




MAJOK CIIAKI.K.S W. A.NDKKSON 
Assistant Adjutant and Inspector Ceneral, Forrest's Cavalry 



i 



THE FLAG OF TRUCE AT FORT PILLOW 

timber, to reach the river-baiik. The steamer was now in sight, and 
blue with troops coming down the stream towards the beleaguered 
garrison and the gunboat. If she had been signalled that a truce 
was prevailing, she did not respect the signal by stopping or put- 
ting about or sheering over to the Arkansas shore, but came 
steadily on. General Forrest, believing that these were reinforce- 
ments for the garrison, in order to prevent their landing, and not- 
withstanding that a truce was in force, ordered Captain Anderson 
of his staff to call off two hundred men from McCulloch's brigade, 
and take a position immediately under the bluff, below the fort, 
where the steamboat - landing could be commanded, and to fire 
into the steamer should such effort be made. A similar detail 
was ordered from Colonel C. R. Barteau's regiment of Bell's bri- 
gade, to take a corresponding position along the bluff near the 
mouth of Coal Creek, to aid Anderson in preventing the landing 
of the reinforcements. The movements of these two detachments 
were made in full view of the garrison, the troops under Anderson 
marching rapidly through the open space just behind the barracks 
from the fort. The force from Barteau's Second Tennessee rushed 
out of their position in the ravine to the Coal Creek bluff, and 
there concealed themselves. As has been stated, the flag of truce 
was flying when the disposition of these two detachments of two 
hundred men each was made. The officers of Fort Pillow knew 
for what reason it was made, and, as their reports show, made no 
formal protest against it at the time. They could see this loaded 
steamer coming as readily as did the Confederates; she was in 
full view ; the gunboat, also under truce, was bound by the obliga- 
tions incurred in accepting a cessation of hostilities, and should 
have signalled the steamer that the truce was prevailing, that she 
must put about and not approach. That was the plain duty of Cap- 
tain Marshall and Major Bradford. Forrest did not intend to be 
robbed or cheated out of his prey while it was nearly in his grasp. 
Moreover, there now appeared in sight two other steamboats com- 
ing up the river from the direction of Memphis, and the Confed- 
erate general had every reason to hasten matters to a conclusion. 
The Union commander had equally strong reason to secure delay 
in the hope of succor. Fortunately for the reputation of For- 
rest, which was bitterly and unscrupulously assailed after this af- 
fair, the proof of all that is here said is indisputably established 

345 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

by the Federal reports as well as by those of the other side. 
Adjutant Learning was plainly in error in the deductions made 
from the movements of Anderson's and Barteau's detachments. 
He says, in the reports already cited : " During the cessation of 
firing on both sides in consequence of the flag of truce of- 
fered by the enemy, and while the attention of both ofificers 
and men were naturally attracted to the south end of the fort, 
where the communications were being received and answered, 
Forrest had resorted to means the most foul and infamous ever 
adopted in the most barbarous ages of the world for the accom- 
plishment of his design. Here he took occasion to move his 
troops partially under cover of a ravine and thick underbrush into 
the very position he had been fighting to obtain throughout the 
entire engagement up to 3.30 P.M." It is upon this statement 
that the charge of a violation of the flag of truce by Forrest 
rests. General Forrest denied it most positively at the time, and 
General Chalmers, General Bell, Colonel McCulloch, Major Ander- 
son, and many others now living, say that the charge is unequivo- 
cally false, and make affidavit to the same. The report of the 
Committee of the United States Congress admits that these two 
ravines were held by the Confederates before the truce, as will 
be shown further on. What Adjutant Leaming mistook for the 
occupation of this position was the movement of Barteau's de- 
tachment out of the position they had already obtained. Colonel 
Barteau, now living, testifies that he had this position prior to the 
truce, and that he had these men moved out of it during the truce 
to prevent the landing of the boats with reinforcements. It so hap- 
pened that a distinguished Union officer, Brigadier-General George 
F. Shepley, who had just resigned the position of Military Gov- 
ernor of Louisiana, was on one of these boats approaching Fort 
Pillow at this very hour. His report to the Committee on the 
Conduct of the War contains full proof of all that is here stated.* 
He was en route from New Orleans to St. Louis on the steamer 
Olive Branch, As this boat approached Fort Pillow she had on 
board two full batteries of the Seventeenth Corps and a detach- 
ment of artillerists. He says that as the boat was approaching, and 
before it was in sight of Fort Pillow, some women hailed it from the 

* Official Records, vol. xxxii. part i. p. 572. 
346 



THE FLAG OF TRUCE AT FORT PILLOW 

shore and said that the rebels had attacked Fort Pillow and capt- 
ured two boats on the river, and would take us if we went on. 
The captain of the Olive Branch refused to go farther, and turned 
about to go back to Memphis, General Shepley compelled him 
to stop, hailed a small steamer approaching from below, and or- 
dered it alongside. " I ordered the captain of this boat to cast 
off the coal barges he had in tow and take me on board with a 
section of battery to go to Fort Pillow. While he was trying to 
disencumber his boat of the coal barges, another boat (the Cheek), 
better fitted for the purpose, hove in sight. Finding that I could 
get her ready quicker than the other, I had her brought alongside 
and went aboard myself with Captain Thornton, the ranking offi- 
cer of the batteries. Before we could get the guns on board, a 
steamer with troops hove in sight, coming down the river from 
Fort Pillow. We could not distinguish at first whether they were 
Union or rebel soldiers. When she approached we saw United 
States infantry soldiers on board that had just passed the fort. She 
hailed the Olive Branch : ' All right up there ; you can go by. The 
gunboat is lying off the fort.' This steamer was the Liberty. We 
then proceeded up the river in the Olive Branch. Near Fort 
Pillow some stragglers or guerillas fired from the shore with 
musketry, aiming at the pilot-house. I was then in the pilot- 
house, and as we kept on I observed that one of the other two 
boats which followed us at some distance was compelled to put 
back. The Olive Branch kept on, to report to the gunboat at 
the station. An oflficer came off from the gunboat in a smaller 
boat and said he did not want any boat to stop ; ordered us to go 
to Cairo and tell Captain to send him immediately four hun- 
dred rounds of ammunition. There zvas no firing at the fort at 
this time. The Union flag zvas flying, and after we had passed the 
fort tve could see a flag of truce outside the fortifications. No sig- 
nal of any kind was made to the boat from the fort or from the 
shore. No intimation was given us from the gunboat. wJiich had 
the right to order a steamer of this description, other than the order 
to proceed to Cairo and send doivn the ammunition!"*' 

From this evidence it is clear that as their boats, loaded with 
artillery and infantry, were approaching and were not signalled by 

, * Italics not in original. 
347 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

the fort or gunboat not to approach, it was no violation of the 
truce by General Forrest to take such steps as were necessary to 
prevent a landing by these or any other boats which might at- 
tempt it, to relieve the garrison. As it was, the movement di- 
minished the assaulting column by four hundred men, for these 
men took no part whatever in the assault on the fort, and only 
fired on the Federals when they endeavored to escape. It will 
be remembered that Adjutant Leaming admits that McCuUoch's 
brigade was in close proximity to the redoubt, and so placed that 
the guns of the fort could not be trained on them before the truce 
was declared. This malicious and foolish charge is thus shown to 
be false. It should never have gained credence, even in times of 
war and bitterness, when men's minds were inclined to accept as 
truth anything injurious to an enemy. 

While these things were transpiring on the river and beneath 
the bluff just above and below the fort, the note of Forrest was 
under consideration by the commander of the post. Adjutant 
Leaming was directed to make the following reply, which he 
placed in a sealed envelope and delivered to Captain Goodman : 

" General Forrest, Commanding C. S. Forces : 

" Sir, — I respectfully ask one hour for consultation with my officers and 
the officers of the gunboat. In the meantime no preparations to be made 
on either side. Very respectfully, 

" L. F. Booth, Major Commanding." 

Major Booth had been dead since about nine o'clock, and this 
subterfuge was intended to conceal the fact from the Confederate 
leader. This note was at once taken to General Forrest. Mean- 
while it is the general testimony of the survivors among the Con- 
federates that the troops of the garrison, especially the colored sol- 
diers who now had mounted the parapet in considerable numbers, 
shouted to McCulloch's men, many of whom had come out from 
behind the barracks and houses which concealed and protected 
them, daring them to try to take the fort, and hurling epithets at 
them couched in most obscene and abusive terms and accom- 
panied by gestures and actions not to be described. If their offi- 
cers made any effort to put a stop to this unusual exhibition, it 
was without effect. In about fifteen minutes Captain Goodman 
returned with this reply from Forrest : 

348 



N 



« 



ATTACK UPON FORT PILLOW 

" Major L. F. Booth, Commanding U. S. Forces, Fort Pillow : 

" Sir, — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note, asking 
one hour to consider my demand for your surrender. Your request cannot 
be granted. I will allow you twenty minutes from the receipt of this note 
for consideration ; if at the expiration of that time the fort is not surren- 
dered, I shall assault it. I do not demand the surrender of the gunboat. 
" Very respectfully, N. B. Forrest, Major-General."* 

Adjutant Learning says : " After a short consultation with the 
officers of the garrison, it was unanimously voted not to surren- 
der." He then, as directed, wrote and delivered to General For- 
rest in person the following : 

"General, — I will not surrender. 

" Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

" L. F. Booth, Major Commanding." 

Forrest, in his official report, says : " While these negotiations 
were pending the steamers below were rapidly approaching the 
fort. The foremost was the Olive Branch, whose position and 
movements indicated her intention to land."t He believed, and 
was justified in the conclusion, that the request for delay by the 
Union commander was a subterfuge to gain time, so that the 
boats might land before the hour asked for should expire. In the 
light of the published official records there is also clearly seen the 
explanation of the unanimous vote of the officers of the garrison 
not to surrender. It came out in the investigation which followed 
that Captain Marshall, who commanded the gunboat New Era, tes- 
tified as follows: " We (Major Bradford and Captain Marshall) had 
agreed on a signal that if they (Bradford's troops) had to leave 
the fort they would drop down under the bank, and I was to give 
the rebels canister." ;{: In this admission will be found the prime 
reason of the tragedy which here ensued. The second reason 
was the condition of intoxication which prevailed with a large 
part of the garrison. Major Booth, from all accounts an excel- 
lent and brave commander, was dead. Major Bradford, evidently, 
as stated by Major-General S. A. Hurlbut, ** without experience," 
had succeeded to the command, and had made the fatal error of 
giving his men free access to the liquor with which the commis- 

* All these notes are copied from the originals. 
t Official Records, vol. xxxii. part i. p. 614. 
\ Rebellion Record, vol. viii. p. 55. 
349 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

sary of the fort was supplied. The sworn testimony of a large 
number of honorable and trustworthy men establishes this fact 
beyond contradiction. Forrest so stated this fact, and Generals 
Chalmers and Bell, Colonels McCulloch, Wisdom, and Barteau, 
and many more surviving Confederates, swear that vessels con- 
taining whiskey were distributed along the inside of the works, 
with cups and dippers convenient for use. To those familiar 
with the two classes, black and white, which composed the bulk 
of the private soldiers in the garrison at Fort Pillow, and their 
fondness for intoxicating drinks, especially so with the negroes 
just free from slavery, it will readily be accepted that they did 
not fail to take advantage of the opportunities here offered to 
drink to excess. Their conduct during the truce and the insane 
resistance beneath the bluff bear out the allegation that many 
were intoxicated. Major Bradford and his subordinates were 
foolish enough to believe either that a ditch twelve feet wide and 
eight feet deep, with a wall of earth six feet high, would be im- 
passable to the Confederates, or that, should they not be able to 
repel the assault, they could rush beneath the bluff and near the 
water's edge, while Captain Marshall would rake the crest of the 
bluff with canister, and thus, with the aid of his troops, keep off 
the assailants until succor could arrive. To this end preparations 
were made. The gunboat was ready, and Bradford had six cases 
of ammunition carried down below the bluff in anticipation of 
this ; the tops were removed, and the cartridges were ready for dis- 
tribution when needed. The garrison evidently was instructed as 
to this movement, for they carried their guns with them when 
they left the fort, and fought to the last, as will be shown by 
their official report. There is sworn testimony that some two 
hundred and seventy-five guns of the Federal troops were picked 
up below the crest of the bluff, where they were carried by the 
retreating garrison. Lieutenant Van Horn, who took part in the 
fight, testifies that they never surrendered, and fought with des- 
peration to the last. 

As soon as the flags of truce were withdrawn both sides pre- 
pared quickly for the final grapple. The soldiers of the garrison 
loaded their muskets and filled their six pieces with grape-shot. 
A number of non-combatants, refugees, sutlers, etc., were given 
muskets, and took their places in line. All along the inner 

350 




LIEUTENANT LEA.MING DELIVERING THE REPLY, "I WILL NOT SURRENDER 



M 



ATTACK UPON FORT PILLOW 

aspect of the embankment they crouched beneath the parapet, 
their guns resting on the crest, and all ready for the onslaught. 
The gunboat New Era was in its place and ready, but, alas! 
it was " a broken reed " upon which this weak and foolish 
commander was leaning. Forrest had long since solved the 
problem of silencing such craft at canister-range. He instruct- 
ed Anderson and Barteau to watch the boat, and when her ports 
were opened to have their sharp-shooters cut down the gunners. 
" Shoot everything blue betwixt wind and water until their flag 
comes down," were his exact words. His orders to the troops 
were explicit : they were told that they must storm the fort ; ev- 
ery gun and pistol was to be loaded ; not a shot was to be fired 
by the assaulting line until they were inside the works and hand 
to hand ; they must make it quick work. The men were informed 
that the sharp-shooters would keep the heads of the Federals 
behind the parapet until they could cross the ditch and climb the 
embankment. He would be where he could watch the entire 
field, and would note which command would be first over the 
walls ; when Gaus's bugle sounded the charge, they were to go. 

General Forrest then rode slowly to the hillock, some four hun- 
dred yards from the fort, which he had formerly occupied, and 
waited a few minutes longer. They were anxious and exciting 
moments for those dare-devil spirits he was proud to command. 
There they were, crouching like lions ready to spring upon their 
prey, only waiting the moment and the command. It was now 
nearly four o'clock. Many of that doomed garrison, and not a 
few of their assailants, would, before another half-hour could come, 
pass over to the " undiscovered country from whose bourn no 
traveller returns." Intently scanning the fort and the ground 
about it, without turning his head, Forrest said : " Blow the 
charge, Gaus." The faithful German raised the battered bugle 
(it had two bullet -holes through it) to his mouth, and away 
through the air rang out the thrilling sound. Only the first few 
notes, however, were audible. Other and~harsher sounds broke 
on the ear and swallowed up the bugle's blast. From the space 
around the entire front of the crescentic earthworks twelve hun- 
dred Confederates sprang from the ground, rent the air with their 
war-cry, the " rebel yell," and with bodies bent low to the earth 
to escape the shower of bullets which greeted them from the 

351 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

parapet, they rushed like the wind and jumped into the wide 
and deep ditch. It was too wide to jump across. Few men with 
gun in hand and cartridge-box buckled on could leap twelve feet 
and land upon the slanting bank of earth where ditch and embank- 
ment met ; and as for scaling-ladders, Forrest's men would sooner 
have thought of using Jacob's ladder than of preparing such ap- 
paratus to cross a ditch. They jumped straight to the bottom. 
It was April weather, and the bottom was mud and water. They 
did not mind that on such an occasion. From where they stood 
it was fourteen feet of climbing to the parapet. Where were the 
hand-grenades? the shells with short fuses? Bradford might 
have exterminated these reckless horseman who stormed forts and 
captured gunboats and manned them and had the effrontery to 
fight a naval battle. There was neither reason nor an ordinary 
knowledge of war behind the earthworks. When the wild yell of 
the assailants brought the garrison to their feet, they raised their 
heads above the works and fired a deafening volley of musketry, 
and simultaneously the gunners pulled the lanyards of their six 
pieces. It made an awful din — the wild, defiant yell of the assail- 
ants, mingled with the crackle and roar of musketry and the thun- 
dering cannon. The shower of grape-shot swept the hill-tops in 
the distance, but sped over the heads of the Confederates. The 
guns could not be sufficiently depressed to harm the charging line. 
The volley from the small arms was more effective ; a number of 
the assaulting line went down, and more would have fallen but 
for the foresight of their commander, who from his distant posi- 
tion was a spectator intensely interested in the event which was 
transpiring. As the blue caps of the garrison rose above the 
horseshoe - line of the parapet to deliver their volley, a shower 
of missiles whizzed by and into them, while bits of pulverized 
earth flew in their faces as the bullets from the unerring aim of 
two hundred and fifty sharp-shooters sped through the air and 
ploughed miniature furrows along the floor-like top of the em- 
bankment or went home in mortal spite at some unhappy victim. 
No ordinary marksmen these grandsons of the backwoods rifle- 
men who played such havoc with the British at New Orleans. 
No wonder the fire of their adversaries was wild, their aim un- 
steady. Moreover, in order to render their arms effective, so close 
were the cavalrymen to the works, they must of necessity expose 

352 



CAPTURE OF FORT PILLOW 

at least one-fourth of their bodies, in order to bring the muzzles 
of their guns in proper range. Meanwhile, at the bottom of the 
ditch the human scaling-ladders were not idle. These hardy 
riders were playing the most serious game of " leap-frog " they 
had ever undertaken. Broad backs bent over, and on them as 
stepping -blocks their comrades clambered to the narrow ledge 
of solid earth above, where embankment and ditch almost joined. 
From this landing they reached down and lent a hand to pull the 
others up. They soon thickly lined the facing of the wall of 
earth, and as yet had not fired a single shot. The sharp-shooters 
now had of necessity ceased their work for fear of hitting their 
own men, whose heads were nearly level with the parapet. The 
fire of the garrison, too, had suddenly stopped. It was an omi- 
nous silence. Their guns were loaded, and they were waiting for 
the heads of their enemies to show along the crest. Only the 
artillery blazed away, shooting at the air and the hills around, 
hitting no one, but making a terrific noise. There was no wild, 
disordered rush of Forrest's men, no helter-skelter advance, which 
would have been fatal. They moved together and under orders. 
Bell, the two McCuUochs, Barteau, Alexander Chalmers, Wilson, 
Russell, and Wisdom were there hand in hand with their gallant 
soldiers. What they were doing and did consumed only a few 
minutes, yet it took time and order to accomplish with the mini- 
mum loss of life what they were doing. It was a bold and daring 
feat, without a parallel in the history of cavalry. It was another 
stroke of that rare combination of caution and audacity which 
Forrest practised at all times, and almost always with success. 
To rush through a blaze of musketry and cannon and gain that 
ditch, jump into it and clamber out, halt for a minute on the 
base of the embankment, and in one solid line from all sides 
spring over the parapet ablaze with the flash of powder from the 
very muzzles of the muskets of the garrison, still reserving their 
fire, then to leap in among them and grapple hand to hand in 
mortal combat, took these dare-devil horsemen less time to do 
than it takes to tell of it. But there they were, and every man 
knew it was a fight to the death. The garrison had resolved to 
die — not to surrender. The Confederates were there to take that 
fort or die in the attempt. No marvel the loss of life was terri- 
ble. With a fierce shout, with guns and pistols cocked and ready, 
Z 353 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

with finger on the trigger, they sprang on to the parapet. A 
circle of fire flashed in their faces, and the ground shook with the 
terrific explosion which greeted them the instant their heads 
began to show, and backward into the ditch reeled and fell 
a number of the assailants. This did not stop the rest ; the 
front rank, six hundred strong, leaped down among the gar- 
rison, shoved their guns and six-shooters against their blue 
blouses, and lead and powder and wadding tore them to instant 
death. No wonder the others gave way. White and black of the 
Union forces, with guns in hand, some turning and firing as they 
were swept back, now, as ordered, sought safety beneath the bluff. 
They had tto thought of surretider then, and in defiance of Forrest 
they left their flag floating from the staff. They had been prom- 
ised aid from the gunboat, and safety from pursuit when once be- 
low the crest of the river-bank. No man surrendered or tried to 
surrender above the bluff. The Confederates lining the embank- 
ment, and those on the ground within the fort — twelve hundred 
in all — from pistol and musket poured into them a deliberate and 
converging fire as they retired, and with fearful execution. There 
were some tents erected within the fort nearest the river, and 
these blocked the way to rapid egress. As the retreating mass 
crowded the narrow paths between the tents, they were pelted by 
the shower of lead which slaughtered them by scores. They fell in 
piles three or four deep, heaps of bleeding, mangled bodies. It was 
a frightful holocaust ; fully two hundred and fifty of the five hun- 
dred and fifty-seven soldiers who were defending Fort Pillow lay 
dead or wounded within that small enclosure. Reloading as they 
advanced, the victors followed as far as the crest of the bluff, be- 
neath which the remnant of the Union forces had disappeared. 
When Major Bradford and the survivors of the garrison reached 
the bank they leaped over and ran towards the water's edge and 
down the bluff to where the ammunition was stored. They did 
this to get out of the way of harm and to make room for Captain 
Marshall to carry out his promise of " giving the rebels canis- 
ter " from the gunboat just off the shore. Alas! not a port-hole 
was opened, not a cannon flashed or roared from across the 
smooth surface of the Mississippi. The flash and roar came from 
another and an unexpected quarter. As Bradford and his men 
leaped over the bluff and rushed southward along its face, they 

354 



CAPTURE OF FORT PILLOW 

had not gone fifty yards when Captain Anderson, who with his 
detachment of two hundred men was stationed one hundred 
yards below the fort, gave the command to fire, and sent a furious 
and fatal volley into their midst. Staggered and bewildered at 
this unexpected turn of affairs, the decimated garrison, now panic- 
stricken, turned upon their tracks and rushed wildly along the 
face of the bluff up the river, thinking that way was open for 
escape. As they reached the upper limit of the fort, the detach- 
ment from Barteau's regiment stationed opposite the mouth of 
Coal Creek ravine opened upon the fugitives another volley which 
stopped their flight in this direction, and turned them like fright- 
ened sheep once more back in the direction they had first taken 
when they sought safety beneath the bank. 

Many of the survivors now realized that escape or rescue was 
hopeless, and threw down their guns ; some, wild with fright or 
frenzied by liquor or the wounds they had received, rushed into 
the river and were drowned or shot to death as they attempted to 
swim away. Many of the white men, more intelligent than their 
colored comrades, threw themselves behind the logs, stumps, brush- 
heaps, or into the gullies which they encountered in their flight, and 
thus saved themselves from the frightful mortality which befell the 
terror-stricken negroes, some few of whom, either insanely intoxi- 
cated, or convinced from the slaughter that had transpired that no 
quarter would be shown them, and determined to sell their lives as 
dearly as possible, still offered resistance and continued to fire at 
the Confederates. There were not many who were guilty of this 
insanity, but there were enough to justify their assailants to close 
in upon them from the bluff above and from either side of the 
river -bank and continue to shoot them down. Others broke 
through the investing lines, and, refusing to halt, were pursued 
and killed. A number who had thrown their guns away, holding 
up their hands, ran up towards the Confederates on the crest of 
the bluff and were spared, while others who did this were shot 
down. But for the insane conduct of their drunken and desper- 
ate comrades, a great many of those who perished would have 
escaped. This frightful scene of carnage was fortunately of short 
duration. General Forrest, from his position, four hundred yards 
distant from the fort, as soon as he saw his men gain the para- 
pet and leap in among the garrison, rode at once to the scene 

355 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

and ordered all firing to cease. Lieutenant-Colonel D. M. Wis- 
dom, of the Nineteenth Tennessee Cavalry, now an officer of 
the United States government, swears as follows: "While the 
Federal flag was still flying, General Forrest rode up to me on 
horseback and ordered me to go down the bluff and stop any and 
all firing upon the garrison." As he entered the fort a soldier of 
Barteau's Second Tennessee regiment, Private John Doak Carr, 
of Hartsville, Tennessee, cut the halyards of the Union flag, and, 
as it fell to the ground, he picked it up and carried it to the gen- 
eral. When Forrest ordered the firing to be stopped. Generals 
Chalmers and Bell, and Colonels McCulloch, Barteau, Wisdom, 
and Captain Anderson, who were immediately with their troops, 
enforced the order. Among the mass of sworn testimony which 
will be presented further on, it will be shown that with but one 
exception, the perpetrator of which was arrested by General 
Chalmers on the spot and placed under guard, not a gun was fired 
or a prisoner injured after the flag of the garrison fell. 

The gunboat New Era, with steam up, was still lying at anchor, 
or under a " slow wheel," to steady her in the current. She had 
not opened a port or fired a cannon. Only a few musket-shots 
came from her sides. One of the Parrott guns of the fort was 
now rolled to the bluff and opened upon her, at which she steamed 
up stream and was soon out of range, though still hovering in 
sight. As soon as the firing ceased, Forrest ordered Colonel 
McCulloch to take charge of the enemy's camp, prisoners, and 
captured property. McCulloch says : " / ordered the survivors to 
gather up their wounded and bury their dead.''* The wounded 
were placed in the tents at the rear of the fort and in the 
barracks and other buildings to the south of the stronghold. 
In this work some of the Confederate officers took part. The 
dead were buried entirely by details from the Union survivors, 
and if, as charged, some of the wounded were buried alive, they 
were thus interred by their own comrades. Meanwhile Forrest 
directed Captain Anderson to take one of the prisoners. Captain 
John T. Young (Twenty-fourth Missouri Infantry), provost-mar- 
shal of the fort, with a white flag, and have him proceed along 
the shore and signal the New Era to send off a boat and con- 

* Report of Colonel Robert McCulloch. 
356 



AFTER THE CAPTURE OF FORT PILLOW 

vey to Captain Marshall the following note copied from the 
original : 

" Captain Marshall, Commanding Gunboat No. 7, United States Navy : 

"Sir, — My aide-de-camp, Captain Charles W. Anderson, is fully author- 
ized to negotiate with you for the delivery of the wounded of the garrison at 
this place on board your vessel. 

" I am, very respectfully yours, etc., 

" N. B. Forrest, Major-General." 

Captain Young went up the bank waving his flag, but Captain 
Marshall, if he saw it, paid no attention to it other than to move 
off up the river and disappear around a bend. In his sworn 
statement to the committee he said : " I was fearful that they 
might hail in a steamboat from below, capture her, put on four or 
five hundred men, and come after me."* Captain Anderson and a 
detail of Confederates were now busy gathering up the arms and 
all captured property, and placing it in wagons to be hauled away. 
Fully one-half of the muskets and carbines of the garrison were 
picked up by Anderson below the crest of the blufT, and six cases 
of cartridges with the tops removed, ready for distribution, were 
found behind the trunks of trees below and between the rear of the 
fort and the water's edge.f At five o'clock General Forrest and a 
portion of the troops moved away. Bell, with his brigade, followed 
with all the unwounded prisoners and those whose injuries were 
not serious enough to prevent them from marching. Forrest, on 
account of his injuries, was unable to proceed more than five miles 
on that afternoon. Bell marched ten miles from the battle-field 
and encamped for the night. McCulloch, with Chalmers, followed 
at dark, leaving the fort entirely abandoned by the Confederates. 
The Federal wounded were left in charge of their surgeon. The 
rear-guard of the Confederates encamped for the night two miles 
from the river. 

After dark that evening not a soldier of Forrest's command was 
nearer Fort Pillow than two miles, where General Chalmers went 
into camp. If the excesses charged by some of the survivors were 
committed after that time and before six o'clock of the follow 
ing morning (April 13th), they were done by guerillas, robbers, 
and murderers, with which this section of the country, as is well 

♦ Rebellion Record, vol. viii. p. 55. t Sworn statement. 

357 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

known, was then infested, and who, following in the wake of either 
army like hyenas, preyed without mercy upon the weak and de- 
fenceless. At daylight on the 13th, General Forrest, before pro- 
ceeding on his way to Jackson, directed Captain Anderson, of his 
staff, to return to the battle-field and endeavor to secure the land- 
ing of some passing steamer to take the Federal wounded on 
board. Captain Anderson's report,* written on April 17th, states 
that, accompanied by three men of the escort, he rode towards the 
battle-field, and when about two miles from the fort he came upon 
General Chalmers's camp, and requested permission to take Cap- 
tain Young, a Federal prisoner, with him. At this moment a 
gunboat was shelling the woods about the fort. On nearing the 
bluff Captain Anderson raised the white flag, and the boat ceased 
firing. A small boat came off to inquire what was wanted. Cap- 
tain Anderson informed the officer in command of the boat — the 
Silver Cloud — that General Forrest desired to place the Union 
wounded, "white or black," upon his boat. Acting-Master Will- 
iam Ferguson, U. S. N., accepted the truce and at once landed 
at the fort. This was at 8 A.M. It was then agreed between 
these officers that the flag of truce should remain in force until 5 
P.M. General Chalmers, who had also now returned to the river, 
approved of this agreement. No armed Confederates were to 
come within the outer line of works, which was about one-half 
mile from the bluff. The task of burying the dead and carrying 
the wounded on board was completed by four o'clock, when the 
boats left and Captain Anderson lowered the flag of truce. He 
then set fire to all remaining tents and houses, and rode away 
with the few soldiers who had remained at the outer works. 

Captain Ferguson says that at 6 A.M. his boat arrived off the 
fort, and he began to shell some rebel pickets who were seen 
hovering near the fort. About 8 A.M. the flag of truce was seen, 
and he made the agreement with Captain Anderson as just given. 
He also hailed the steamer, Platte Valley, and had her land to as- 
sist him. Upon these boats the wounded men were placed, a de- 
tail of Confederates assisting in this work, as acknowledged by 
Captain Ferguson, and at 4 P.M. the boats proceeded up the river.f 

The casualties among the Confederates were fourteen officers 

* Official Records, vol. xxxii. part i. p. 598. t Ibid. p. 571. 

358 



PRISONERS TAKEN AT FORT PILLOW 

and men killed, and eighty-six wounded. Lieutenant-Colonel 
Wiley M. Reid, Captains J. C. Wilson and W. R. Sullivan, Lieu- 
tenants N. B. Burton, Ryan, Hubbard, and Love were among the 
slain. Considering the stubborn character of the resistance offered 
by the garrison and the strength of the position, the loss of the 
Southern troops was small. This is in great part accounted for 
by the woful incompetency of the officer who at 9 A.M. succeeded 
to the command of the Union forces after the death of Major 
Booth, and by the intoxication of very many of his troops, a 
condition which, while it made them reckless and indifferent to 
danger or death, also rendered them inefficient for an intelligent 
defence of the fort. In Forrest's superior skill in the manage- 
ment of the attack will, however, be found the chief reason for the 
small loss his men suffered. His genius in aggressive warfare was 
probably never more brilliantly exhibited than in this small affair. 
The accurate and persistent work of his sharp-shooters either kept 
the heads of the garrison below the parapet, or, when they rose 
to fire, made the discharge of their pieces premature and their 
aim too uncertain to be effective. Once inside the works, the 
Confederates had all the advantage, and their loss after the 
first volley from the Federals was exceedingly small. The loss 
with the garrison was very heavy. Of the 557 enlisted troops 
there were 226 who were marched away with Bell's command to 
Mississippi. 
The following is a list of the prisoners captured at Fort Pillow : 

Thirteenth Tennessee Battalion. — Company A : Sergeant R. C. Gunter ; 
Privates J. Childress, A. J. Knight, J. E. Lemon, J. L. Howell, G. W. Kirk, 
T. F. Burton, J. B. Phipps, J. Clarke, J. Long, C. Swinny, D. Burton, J. 
Minyard, J. Berry, J. Halford. W. T. Lovett, M. Mitchell, E. Haynes, E. An- 
thony, V. V. Matthemy, J. Moore. Company B : Privates A. J. Pankey, R, 
B. McKie, J. H. Scoby, J. Green, A. McKie, W. G. Bowles, E. Jones, A. J. 
Crawford, S. Hubbs, G. W. Bowles, T. L. Perry, J. W. Stewart, D. Floyd, W. 
P. Flowers, J. A. Baker, J. C. Steward, W. C. Asprey, J. H. Cover, J. Eason, 
J. Ellington, Z. Ellington, W. Etheridge, T. M. Paulk, C. F. Bowles, W. T. 
Hooser, J. Jones, W. Morrow, C. R. Allen, H. Bailey, J. A. Beatty, D. B. 
Burress, W. J. Mifflin, J. Burruss, W. Woodward, A. H. Barom. Company 
C : First Lieutenant N. D. Logan ; Privates H. Corning, W. L. Tate, N. G. 
Henderson, T. Wheeless, E. Scarborough, J. Bynum, S. Read, J. Clarke, D. 
Myers, W. Stafford, A. McGhee, F. E. Neeham, J. A. Smith, J. Ham, J. 
Pressley, M. Day, D. F. Hood, F. M. Gammon, J. Jones, L. Hohoer, G. L, 

359 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

Ellis, J. H. Webb, H. C. Moore, W. H. Bolls, A. J. Rice, William Ryder, J. 
Norman, J. Southerland, A. Middleton, H. S. Morris, J. M. Tidwell, J. M. 
Knuckles, C Oxford. Company D : Privates D. Z. Alexander, S. E. Kirk, 

B. J. Kirk, F. D. Tidwell, William Hancock, John Taylor, J. W. Brown, T. 
Woods, B. Johnson, J. Wilson, W. R. Johnson, J. Moer, M. Harper, E. D. 
Stewart, B. F. Ellison, T. P. Pascal, J. M. Wilson. J. W. Gibson, P. S. Alexan- 
der, B. W. King, J. Rumage, J. C. Green. Company E : Captain J. L. Poston ; 
Privates T. J. Cochran, A. J. Hall, E. Childress, J. A. Brown. W. G. Postob, 
J. Smith, O. B. Goodman, S. N. Scarberry, N. C. Kleek, J. Cozort, W. Hines, 
J. W. Antwine, C. Ellis. A. J. Madlin. A. Carr. J. F. Stamps, R. Richardson, 
J. A. Haynes, J. M. Smith, T. I. McMurray, J. F. Rolf, J. Shoemate, Henry 
Clay, J. Arnold, R. Williams, A. J. Sutton, A. Lewis, J. H. Scarboro, T. A. 
Lunsford, W. J. Scarberry, J. Hodge, H. Jones, W. M. Henley, H. L. Brog- 
den, M. E. Beard; F. Dowling, Quartermaster's Clerk. Company known as 
Johnson's Escort: First Lieutenant P. H. McBride; Private M. H. Blanton. 

Second United States Light Artillery. — Company D : First Lieutenant A. 
M. Hunter ; Private J. D. Fox. 

Twenty-fourth Missouri Infantry. — Company A : Captain J. F. Young. 

Stigall's Home Guards. — Privates W. H. Gibson, S. T. Gibson, J. W. Au- 
trey, William Boyer, R. C. Price, S. M. Price. 

Second Iowa Cavalry. — Company L: Private R. B. Springer. 

First United States Regular Artillery. — Company A : Private C. E. Pratt. 

Second Illinois Cavalry. — Company B : Private H. W. Holloway. 

Fifty-second Indiana Infantry. — Company G : Private A. Baker. 

Seventh Tennessee Cavalry. — Company A: Private R. Mullins. Company 
C: Private R. H. Stewart. Company D: Private W. M. Crews. Company 
M : Private W. H. Snow. 

Sixth Tennessee Cavalry. — Company E: Private J. K. Taylor. 

Seventh Kansas Cavalry. — Private T. C. George (hospital steward). 

Sixth United States {Colored) Heavy Artillery. — Company A : Captain 

C. J. Eppeneiter; First Lieutenant P. Bishop; Sergeant J. Hennissey; Pri- 
vates A. J. Hatfield, J. Thompson, Frank Hopper, Tom Norris, Anthony 
Flowers, Bill Smith, Oliver Jones, Henry Smith, Jenkins Rice, Bill Ward, 
Monk Moores, Cog Horton, Edmund Trice, Peter Williams, Charlie Will- 
iams, Dave Manley, Ray McGhee, Broxton Kirkman, Wilson Johnson, Bill 
Oates, Solomon Patrick, Henderson Johnson, John Gentry, Sandy Worsham, 
Wilson Crenshaw, Jim McCauley, Albert Ingram, Jefferson Dobbs, Spott 
Clayton, Harry Hill. William Gray, Jim Danbridge, Dan Newbern, Dave Oats, 
Frank Browder, Tom Palmer, Aaron Bradley. David Oats, Henry Smith, 
Wilson Peyton, David Johnson, Jacob Lumpkin, Moses Wiseman, Lewis Van 
Eagle, John McHainey, Jim Murrell, Jim Flowers, Sam Baugh, Dick Sallee, 
Hiram Lumpkin, Jim Pride, John Henry Harper, Dave Flowers. 

There were about fifty whose wounds were so slight as not to 
interfere with their marching south. Captain W. Ferguson, com- 

360 



THE KILLING OF MAJOR BRADFORD 

manding the United States steamer Silver Cloud, reports that he 
received on board of his boat on the 13th, at Fort Pillow, about 
one hundred men, and that about seventy of these were wounded. 
Thirty-four of this group of seventy were whites, the remainder 
were negroes. Captain A. M. Pennock, United States Navy, tes- 
tified that two days after the battle, April 14th, ten additional 
wounded soldiers were picked up by Captain Fitch.* This would 
make the killed of the garrison, 221 ; wounded, 130; unwounded, 
206 ; ratio of killed to troops engaged, 39 per cent. ; killed and 
wounded, 63 per cent.f 

* Rebellion Record, vol. viii., p. 38. 

t The fate of Major Bradford, although he escaped even a wound in the 
capture of Fort Pillow, was eventually as tragic as it was unwarrantable. He 
had been 6ne of the most " active loyal Tennesseeans " in the enlistment of 
the citizens of this section of his native State in the Union army. As the 
vast majority of the citizens here were Southern sympathizers, a very bitter 
feeling towards him was the result. A great many of the soldiers in Forrest's 
command felt that they had a personal grievance against this man, and it is 
not a matter of great surprise that opportunity was taken to wreak private re- 
venge upon him at this time. Indeed, it is proof of the control that Forrest 
had over his men that he was not shot even after the surrender at Fort 
Pillow. Just after the capture of this fort, when the prisoners were being 
moved away. Major Bradford was placed under the charge of Colonel Robert 
\ McCulloch, and he requested to be permitted to superintend the burial of his 
brother, who had been killed in the action. He gave his parole of honor 
that he would report again to the Confederates in their camp that night as 
soon as his brother was interred. (This statement is made in Campaigns of 
General N. B. Forrest ; and in a letter to the author from Colonel Robert 
McCulloch, written in 1898, he states that the account given in these Cam- 
paigns is correct.) Suffice it to say that Major Bradford did not report to 
his captors. Instead of returning, he escaped in the darkness, and was re- 
captured in citizen's clothes on the day after the battle, near Covington, by 
one of Colonel W. L. Duckworth's scouts. He was brought into the camp 
and delivered to this officer. (Manuscripts from Colonel W. L. Duckworth, in 
1898 in possession of the author.) On the 14th of April, Colonel Duckworth 
sent him with other prisoners to the headquarters of Brigadier -General 
Chalmers at Brownsville. On the following day Major Bradford was with 
other prisoners sent under guard by General Chalmers in the direction of 
Jackson. Tennessee, to the headquarters of General Forrest. Colonel Duck- 
worth writes that " when they were about three miles from Brownsville the 
guards took Bradford a short distance from the road into a thicket of woods 
and shot him." There is nothing in the records to show that the men who 
murdered Major Bradford were ever brought to trial for this unwarrantable act. 

^6. 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

On the 15th of April, three days after the capture of Fort Pil- 
low, General Forrest sent a brief and imperfect report to his im- 
mediate commander, Lieutenant-General Polk. In this despatch 
he states that he " arrived at Fort Pillow on the morning of the 
I2th, with about fifteen hundred men of McCulloch's and Bell's 
brigades, and after a sharp contest captured the garrison and all 
of its stores. A demand was made for a surrender, which was re- 
fused. The victory was complete, and the loss of the enemy will 
never be known, from the fact that large numbers ran into the 
river and were shot and drowned. The force was composed of 
about five hundred negroes and two hundred white soldiers [Ten- 
nessee Tories]. The river was dyed with the blood of the slaugh- 
tered for two hundred yards. There was in the fort a large num- 
ber of citizens who had fled there to escape the conscript law. 
Most of these ran into the river and were drowned. The approx- 
imate loss was upward of five hundred killed, but few of the ofifi- 
cers escaping. It is hoped that these facts will demonstrate to 
the Northern people that negro soldiers cannot cope with the 
Southerners. We still hold the fort. My loss was about twenty 
killed and about sixty wounded."* 

Upon the same day he wrote to President Davis, giving a re- 
port of his campaign in west Tennessee, including the capture of 
Fort Pillow. This report differs in no essential particular from 
that made to General Polk. April 26th, Forrest, having the re- 
ports of his subordinates at hand, forwarded his full report of this 
engagement. He says: " My command consisted of McCulloch's 
brigade of Chalmers's division, and Bell's brigade of Buford's di- 
vision, both placed for the expedition under the command of Brig- 
adier-General James R. Chalmers, who by a forced march drove 
in the enemy's pickets and gained possession of the outer works, 
and by the time I reached the field, at 10 A.M., had forced the en- 

* In this report General Forrest was in error both as to the loss of the Fed- 
erals, which was much less than he stated, and also as to his own casualties, 
which were in excess of his figures. It will be remembered that he left the 
scene of the battle immediately after it was over and before any definite 
knowledge could have been obtained. The expression that " the river was 
stained with the blood of the slaughtered " was used by General Grant in 
his Memoirs to injure the reputation of Forrest, and unjustly, since the facts 
were accessible to him at the time his Memoirs were written. 

362 



FORREST ON THE CAPTURE OF FORT PILLOW 

emy to their main fortification. The fort was garrisoned by seven 
hundred troops, with six pieces of field artillery. A deep ravine 
surrounds the fort, and from the fort to the ravine the ground de- 
scends rapidly. I ordered General Chalmers to advance his lines 
and gain position on the slope, where our men would be perfectly 
protected from the heavy fire of artillery and musketry. The en- 
emy could not depress their pieces so as to rake the slopes, nor 
could they fire on them by small arms except by mounting the 
breastworks, and exposing themselves to the fire of our sharp- 
shooters, who, under cover of stumps and logs, forced them to 
keep down inside the works. After several hours' hard fighting 
the desired position was gained, not, however, without consider- 
able loss. Our main line was now within an average distance of 
one hundred yards from the fort, and extended from Coal Creek 
on the right to the bluff or bank of the Mississippi on the left. 

" During the entire morning the gunboat kept up a continuous 
fire in all directions, but without effect ; and being confident of my 
ability to take the fort by assault, and desiring to prevent further 
loss of life, I sent under flag of truce a demand for an uncondi- 
tional surrender of the garrison. [These despatches have been 
published on another page.] 

"The gunboat had ceased firing, and the smoke of three other 
boats ascending the river was in view, the foremost boat appar- 
ently crowded with troops ; and believing the request for an hour 
was to gain time for reinforcements to arrive, and that the desire 
to consult the officers of the gunboat was a pretext by which they 
desired improperly to communicate with her, I at once sent a reply 
[see despatches on another page] by Captain Goodman, who bore 
the flag, directing him to remain until he received a reply, or until 
the expiration of the time proposed. 

" My dispositions had all been made and my force was in a 
position that would enable me to take the fort with less loss than 
to have withdrawn under fire, and it seemed to me so perfectly 
apparent to the garrison that such was the case that I deemed 
their capture without further bloodshed a certainty. After some 
little delay, seeing the message delivered to Captain Goodman, I 
rode up myself to where the notes were received and delivered. 
The answer was handed me, written in pencil on a slip of paper 
without envelope, and was, as well as I remember, in these words: 

363 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

* Negotiations will not attain the desired object.' As the officers 
who were in charge of the Federal flag of truce had expressed 
a doubt as to my presence, and had pronounced the demand a 
trick, I handed them back the note, saying : ' I am General For- 
rest ; go back and say to Major Booth that I demand an answer 
in plain, unmistakable English, Will he fight or surrender?' Re- 
turning to my original position, before the expiration of twenty 
minutes I received a reply. [See despatches.] 

" While these negotiations were pending, the steamers from be- 
low were rapidly approaching the fort ; the foremost was the Olive 
Branchy whose position and movements indicated her intention 
to land. A few shots fired into her caused her to leave the shore 
and make for the opposite side. One other boat passed up on 
the far side of the river ; the third one turned back. 

"The time having expired, I directed Brigadier-General Chalmers 
to prepare for the assault. Bell's brigade occupied the right, with 
his extreme right resting on Coal Creek. McCulloch's brigade oc- 
cupied the left, extending from the centre to the river. Three com- 
panies of his left regiment were placed in an old rifle-pit on the left 
and almost in the rear of the fort. On the right a portion of Bar- 
teau's regiment was also under the bluff, and in rear of the fort. 
Fearing the gunboats and transports might attempt a landing, I di- 
rected my aide-de-camp. Captain Charles W. Anderson, to assume 
command of the three companies on the left and rear of the fort, 
and hold the position against anything that might come by land or 
water, and to take no part in the assault on the fort. Everything 
being ready, the bugle sounded for the charge, which was made 
with a yell, and the works were carried without a perceptible 
halt in any part of the line. As our troops mounted and poured 
into the fortification, the enemy retreated into the river, arms in 
hand and firing back, colors flying, no doubt expecting the gun- 
boat to shell my men away from the bluff and protect them until 
they could be taken off or reinforced. 

"As they descended the bank an enfilading and deadly fire was 
poured into them by the troops under Captain Anderson on the 
left and Bell's detachment on the right. Until this fire was 
opened upon them, at a distance varying from thirty to one hun- 
dred yards, they were evidently ignorant of any force having 
gained their rear. The regiment which had stormed and carried 

364 



INCIDENTS IN THE TAKING OF FORT PILLOW 

the fort also poured a destructive fire in the rear of the retiring 
and now panic-stricken and almost decimated garrison. Fortunate- 
ly for those of the enemy who survived this short but desperate 
struggle, some of our men cut the halyard, and the United States 
flag which floated from a tall mast in the centre of the fort came 
down. The force stationed in the rear of the fort could see the 
flag, but were too far under the bluff to see the fort, and when the 
flag descended they ceased firing; but for this, so near were they 
to the enemy, that few, if any, would have survived unhurt an- 
other volley. As it was, many rushed into the river and were 
drowned, and the actual loss of life will perhaps never be known, 
as there were quite a number of refugee citizens in the fort, many 
of whom were drowned, and several killed in the retreat from the 
fort. In less than twenty minutes from the time the bugle sound- 
ed the charge, firing had ceased and the work was done. One of 
the Parrott guns was turned on the gunboat ; she steamed off 
without replying. She had, as I afterwards understood, expended 
all her ammunition, and was therefore powerless for affording the 
Federal garrison the aid and protection they doubtless expected 
of her when they retreated towards the river. Details were made, 
consisting of the captured Federals and negroes, in charge of their 
officers, to collect together and bury the dead, which continued 
until dark. I also directed Captain Anderson to procure a skiff, 
and take with him Captain Young, a captured Federal officer, 
and deliver to Captain Marshall, of the gunboat, a message. [See 
despatches.] All the boats and skiffs having been taken off by 
citizens escaping from the fort during the engagement, the mes- 
sage could not be delivered, although every effort was made to 
induce Captain Marshall to send his boat ashore by raising a 
white flag. She finally moved off, and disappeared round the 
bend above the fort. General Chalmers withdrew his force from 
the fort before dark, and encamped a few miles east of it. 

"On the morning of the 13th I again despatched Captain An- 
derson to Fort Pillow for the purpose of placing, if possible, the 
Federal wounded on board a transport, and of reporting to me on 
his return the condition of affairs at the river. We captured six 
pieces of artillery and about three hundred and fifty stand of 
small arms ; the balance of the small arms had been thrown into 
the river. All the small arms were picked up where the enemy 

365 



Life of general n. b. forrest 

fell, or threw them down in the fort ; the balance scattered from 
the top of the hill to the water's edge." 

It should be borne in mind that this official report was written 
before General Forrest could have known of the action of the 
Congressional Committee. 

On April 24th, General Polk, in a despatch to Major-General 
Forrest, says: "Your brilliant campaign in west Tennessee has 
given me great satisfaction and entitles you to the thanks of your 
countrymen. Appropriate orders in writing will be transmitted 
you immediately."* On May 23, 1864, it was resolved by the 
Congress of the Confederate States of America " that the thanks 
of Congress are eminently due and are hereby cordially tendered 
to Major-General N. B. Forrest and the officers and men of his 
command, for their late brilliant and successful campaign in Mis- 
sissippi, west Tennessee, and Kentucky, a campaign which has 
conferred upon its authors fame as enduring as the record of the 
struggle which they have so brilliantly illustrated." 

For many reasons the capture of Fort Pillow attracted wide at- 
tention. It was considered a remarkable achievement for a small 
force of cavalry, one-half of whom were recruits of four months' 
service, and badly armed, to storm a stronghold deemed impregna- 
ble, the garrison of which was thoroughly well equipped with the 
most modern and effective small arms, with six pieces of artillery, 
and these aided by a gunboat with an additional heavy battery. 
So perfectly secure did this garrison feel that, during the truce, 
while the surrender was being demanded, they jeered and laughed 
at the Confederates for their presumption in thinking their capture 
possible. No wonder, after the capture of such a stronghold, that 
Major-General Hurlbut should declare in his testimony before the 
Congressional Committee : " Forrest is desperate. He will carry 
his men farther than anybody I know of."f 

Moreover, this was the first occasion on which the negro troops 
came prominently to notice in conflict with their late masters. 
About one -half of the Union troops were runaway slaves, and 
were considered as private property by the Confederates, who did 
not recognize Mr. Lincoln's proclamation as giving their slaves 
legitimate freedom. 

* Official Records, vol. xxxii. part i. p. 619. 
t Rebellion Record, vol. viii. p. 42. 
366 



THE "FORT PILLOW MASSACRE" 

There can be little doubt, however, that it was the heavy loss 
of life — the unusually large proportion of killed and wounded to 
the number of soldiers engaged, which led to the report of the 
Committee of Congress, and caused this engagement to pass into 
history as the " Fort Pillow Massacre." 

To the rational mind, capable of carefully weighing the evi- 
dence on both sides, and arriving at a conclusion unbiased by 
prejudice, it must be clear that there was no massacre as charged. 
Had a wholesale and merciless slaughter been intended by Gen- 
eral Forrest and his subordinates, it could and would have been 
carried out, as there was nothing to prevent it. The fact that so 
many escaped death is of itself a proof that a massacre was not 
premeditated or permitted. It is true that more of the garrison 
were shot after the Southern troops were in possession of the 
breastworks than was necessary for the full success of the assault, 
but under the conditions which prevailed during the attack, it is 
clearly shown that an unusually large loss in killed and wounded 
was inevitable, even had no excesses been indulged in by the 
captors. 

From a careful study of the subject, I am convinced that a few 
desperate or insanely intoxicated soldiers of the garrison resisted 
to the very last, and even after escape was hopeless continued to 
fire at the Confederates. On the other hand, notwithstanding 
this extreme provocation, there were a number of men, both white 
and black, shot down, who were trying to surrender and should 
have been spared. About an hour before the assault was made a 
detachment of Forrest's command posted at the extreme left of 
his line broke into the quartermaster's stores which had been 
captured at this time, and before they could be compelled to 
quit the building had had access to a supply of whiskey which 
they discovered there. The moment Forrest learned that his 
men were pillaging the captured stores he rode there rapidly and 
put a stop to it in person. 

The incidents, however, which did occur were greatly exagger- 
ated and cleverly distorted in the reports. In extracting the tes- 
timony, the committee, for political purposes, and as part of an im- 
portant war measure, gave a bloody coloring to the whole. Every- 
thing considered, it may well be a matter of surprise that the 
slaughter was not greater. Human life was held exceedingly 

367 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B, FORREST 

cheap in 1864. and especially in west Tennessee; the scenes of 
bloodshed which stained this section of the South may well sug- 
gest the reddest days of the French Revolution. 

It is difficult for those who did not live through this unhappy 
period, and in this immediate section, to appreciate the bitterness 
of feeling which then prevailed. Three years of civil war had 
passed, not without a deplorable effect upon the morals of the 
rank and file of either army. War does not bring out the noblest 
traits in the majority of those who from choice or necessity follow 
its blood-stained paths. Too often the better qualities hide away, 
and those that are harsh and cruel prevail. Some of Forrest's 
men treasured a deep resentment against some of the officers and 
soldiers of this garrison. They had been neighbors in times of 
peace, and had taken opposite sides when the war came on. These 
men had suffered violence to person and property, and their wives 
and children, in the enforced absence of their natural protectors, 
had suffered various indignities at the hands of the ** Tennessee 
Tories," as the loyal Tennesseeans were called by their neighbors 
who sided with the South. When they met in single combat, or 
in scouting parties, or in battle, as far as these individuals were 
concerned, it was too often a duel to the death. Between the 
parties to these neighborhood feuds the laws of war did not pre- 
vail. Here, in this melee, in the fire and excitement of the as- 
sault, they found opportunity and made excuse for bloody ven- 
geance. No official surrender ; their flag still flying ; some of the 
Federals, no matter how few, still firing back, and they shot them 
down regardless of the cry for quarter. 

Some of those high in authority on the Union side may, in a 
measure, be justly held accountable for the deep hatred which ex- 
isted among these men. General William Sooy Smith, the chief 
of cavalry of the military division of the Mississippi, no later than 
January 17, 1864, had, in writing to General Grant, said: "We 
have given Colonel Hurst a roving commission with his regi- 
ment (the Sixth Tennessee Union Cavalry), and directed him to 
' grub up ' west Tennessee. I think he will reduce that district 
to order."* 

That Colonel Fielding Hurst proceeded thoroughly to " grub 

* Official Records, vol. xxxii. part ii. p. 124. 
368 



ATROCITIES CHARGED TO UNION COMMANDERS 

up " west Tennessee is evident from the fact that, as stated in the 
records, he and his command were assessed by the Federal au- 
thorities at Memphis, and forced to repay a very considerable 
sum of money extorted from citizens.* A trusted officer (killed 
in this assault), sent by General Forrest to investigate the con- 
duct of this command, reports: "About February 15th, 1864, 
Lieutenant Joseph Stewart and Privates John Wilson and Sam- 
uel Osborn, members of Newsom's regiment (Forrest's cavalry), 
while on duty under orders from their commanding officers, 
were captured by Hurst's command, and three days thereafter 
their bodies were found, they having been shot to death. About 
the 5th of February, 1864, Private Martin, of Wilson's regiment 
(Forrest's cavalry), was captured by this same command and was 
shot to death, and the rights of sepulchre forbidden while the 
command remained, some four days. Lieutenant Willis Dodds, 
of Newsom's regiment, while under orders of his superiors, was 
arrested at the residence of his father, in Henderson County, Ten- 
nessee, about March 9, 1864, and put to death by torture. Private 
Silas Hodges saw the body of Lieutenant Dodds very soon after 
his murder, and states that it was horribly mutilated. Private 
Alexander Vale, of Newsom's regiment (Forrest's cavalry), was 
arrested and shot to death in Madison County, Tennessee, about 
March 8, 1864." f 

In view of these reported facts, General Forrest, on March 22, 
1864, authorized Colonel Reed, in the event that Colonel Field- 
ing Hurst was not surrendered to him to answer for these deeds 
of murder, to declare the aforesaid Fielding Hurst and the offi- 
cers and men of his command outlaws, and not entitled to be 
treated as prisoners of war when falling into the hands of the 
forces of the Confederate States.:}: 

Forrest brought this matter forcibly to the attention of Major- 
General C. C. Washburn, who succeeded General Hurlbut, upon 
whom this demand was made, denouncing " one Colonel Fielding 
Hurst, and others of his regiment, who deliberately took out and 
killed seven Confederate soldiers, one of whom they left to die 
after cutting off his tongue, punching out his eyes, splitting his 

* Official Records, vol. xxxii. part ii. p. 118. t Ibid, part iii. p. 118. 

X Ibid, part iii. p. 119. 

2 A 369 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

mouth on each side to his ears, and inflicting other mutila» 
tions."* 

Lieutenant-Colonel James P. Brownlow, son of the Union Gov- 
ernor of Tennessee, commanding the First Tennessee (Union) 
Cavalry, had on December i, 1863, established the precedent of 
" no quarter." In the ofificial report of a skirmish in which he 
and his regiment had been successful, he says, significantly : " I 
would take no prisoners."f 

These are horrible recitals, but they give some idea of the 
disregard for life in those days of bloodshed and distress, and it 
would seem that their perpetrators were not without encourage- 
ment. General W. T. Sherman in this same year wrote to one 
of his subordinates : " Cannot you send over about Fairmouth 
and Adairsville, burn ten or twelve houses of known Secessionists, 
kill a few at random, and let them know it will be repeated every 
time a train is fired on from Resaca to Kingston.":}: 

In this same year this distinguished soldier made use of his 
prisoners of war for the purpose of exploding torpedoes which 
had been planted by the enemy. One of his officers had been 
wounded by the explosion of a torpedo planted in the road in 
the Georgia campaign. He says: " I immediately ordered a lot 
of rebel prisoners from the provost-guard armed with picks and 
spades, and made them march in close ranks to explode their own 
torpedoes, or discover them and dig them up. They begged 
hard, but I reiterated the order, and could hardly help laughing 
at their stepping so gingerly along the road, where it was sup- 
posed some of the torpedoes might explode at each step, but 
they found no others until near Fort McAllister." § 

There is an adage that in war as in love all means of accom- 
plishing the end desired are permissible. In the crisis of a great 
civil war, when each side was bending every energy for success, 
the leaders of the opposing forces justified a resort to measures 
of diplomacy in order to weaken their antagonists which a strict 
construction of right and truth would not have allowed. The 
proclamation of emancipation may be mentioned as such a meas- 
ure — the unlawful and unjust sweeping away of private property. 

* Official Records, vol. xxxii. part i. p. 592. 

t Ibid. vol. xxxi. part i. p. 591. \ Ibid. vol. xxxix. part iii. p. 494. 

§ Memoirs of Sherman. 

370 



CONGRESSIONAL REPORT ABOUT FORT PILLOW 

The refusal of the United States Government to exchange pris- 
oners, thus condemning to a lingering death those of its own and 
its enemy's soldiers, was a war measure. In this same category- 
should be placed the report of the Congressional Committee upon 
the capture of Fort Pillow, and the story of a massacre which was 
deftly woven out of the exaggerated testimony of two or three of 
the officers and some of the negroes and whites who were of the 
garrison, much of which testimony was so self-contradicting as to 
prove its falsity, and all of which was ex parte and inadequate in 
establishing the trumped-up charges of a violation of the rules 
governing civilized warfare. 

Forrest had become a man of great importance in the mighty 
struggle the South was making. The opportunity which now 
presented itself to injure his reputation and blacken his character 
and that of his men was not to be lost. 

To further excite the indignation of the Northern people and of 
the civilized world, by the wide publication of a horrible story of 
massacre which could not be refuted before it had done irrepara- 
ble damage to the cause of the South, and further to impress 
upon the minds of the negroes who were then flocking to the 
ranks of the Union army that in future battles they could not ex- 
pect quarter, and must therefore fight with desperation to the last, 
was a stroke of policy the advantage of which the shrewd poli- 
ticians at Washington did not intend to lose. 

On April i8th a sub-committee was appointed to take "testi- 
mony in regard to the massacre at Fort Pillow." On the follow- 
ing day they left Washington. The spirit which impelled these 
bitter partisans is in evidence in the opening lines of their report: 
" Although your committee were instructed to inquire only in ref- 
erence to the attack, capture, and massacre at Fort Pillow, they 
have deemed it proper to take some testimony in reference to the 
operations of Forrest and his command immediately preceding 
and subsequent to that horrible transaction."* 

This committee reported in substance : 

"I. That Forrest, in violation of the rules governing civilized warfare, had 
taken advantage of the existence of a truce to place a portion of his com- 
mand in a position favorable for assault, which position he could not have 
obtained but for the prevalence of the truce. 

♦ Rebellion Record, vol. viii. doc. i. p. i. 
371 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

" 2. That after the fort had been carried by storm, an indiscriminate 
slaughter, which spared ' neither age nor sex, white nor black, soldier nor 
civilian,' was carried on. 

" 3. That after the fighting had ceased, several of the wounded of the gar- 
rison were intentionally burned to death in the barracks and tents which 
were destroyed by fire. 

"4. That the 'rebels buried some of the living with the dead.' " 

It concludes the report by saying: "Many other instances of 
equally atrocious cruelty might be enumerated, but your commit- 
tee feel compelled to refrain from giving here more of the heart- 
sickening details !" 

In regard to the charge of a violation of the flag of truce by 
Forrest, it has already been shown by the official report of Brig- 
adier-General Shepley, of the Union army, that while the truce 
was in force a steamer loaded with Federal soldiers was approach- 
ing Fort Pillow, where a battle was pending, and when the Federal 
garrison was in need of succor and looking for relief ; and that 
General Shepley, on another steamer, with artillery on board, was 
also steaming towards the fort, intent on going to the rescue of 
the beleaguered garrison. This officer says: "■No signal of any 
kind was made to the boat from the fort or from the shore." 

General Forrest saw this violation of the flag of truce by the 
Federal commander at the fort, and on the gunboat New Era. 
It was the plain duty of the commander at the fort to signal these 
reinforcements to stop or turn back and not approach the fort at 
that moment. With perfect propriety, and proper regard for the 
safety of his troops and the success of his effort, Forrest made an 
immediate disposition of two detachments of his men (of two 
hundred each), to prevent any attempt on the part of these ap- 
proaching steamers to effect a landing. 

The charge that at this time he advanced his forces to a more 
favorable position for assault was most emphatically denied by 
Forrest then and as long as he lived, and is now denied by all the 
officers and men living who were with him and took part in the 
battle. 

It is a fact that the refutation of this charge is shown in the 
official reports of the committee which framed it. This commit- 
tee made a careful survey of the scene of conflict, and the follow- 
ing is taken from their report : *' This fort was situated on a high 

372 



THE FLAG OF TRUCE AT FORT PILLOW 

bluff which descended precipitately to the river's edge, the side of 
the bluff on the river-side being covered with trees, bushes, and 
fallen timber. Extending back from the river on either side of the 
fort was a ravine or hollow^ the one below the fort containing sev- 
eral private stores and some dwellings. At the mouth of that ra- 
vine and on the river-bank were some govertiment buildings contain- 
ing commissary and quartermaster s stores. 

" The ravine above the fort was known as Coal Creek ravine, the 
sides being covered with trees and bushes. To the right and below, 
and a little to the front of the fort, was a level piece of ground not 
quite so elevated as the fort itself, on which had been erected some 
log-huts or shanties which were occupied by the tvhite troops and also 
used for hospital and other purposes. Within the fort tents had been 
erected with board floors for the use of the colored troops. There 
were six pieces of artillery in the fort, consisting of two six-pound- 
ers, two twelve-pounder howitzers, and two ten-pounder Parrotts. 
The rebels continued their attack, but up to two or three d clock 
in the afternoon they had not gained any decisive success. Our 
troops, both white and black, fought most bravely, and were in 
good spirits. 

" The gunboat New Era, Captain Marshall, took part in the con- 
flict, shelling the enemy as opportunity offered. Signals had been 
agreed upon by which the officers in the fort could indicate where 
the guns of the boat would be most effective. There being but 
one gunboat there, no permanent impression appears to have been 
produced upon the enemy, for as they were shelled out of one ra- 
vine they would make their appearance in another. They would 
thus appear and retire as the gunboat moved from one point to an- 
other. About one o'clock the fire on both sides slackened somewhat, 
and the gunboat moved out in the river to coal, clean its guns ^' etc.* 
Here is a distinct admission that before i p.m., and nearly three 
hours prior to the truce, the Confederates had full possession of 
the ravines ' bove as well as below the fort. Forrest, and all of his 
officers, claimed this then, and a large number of men yet surviving 
most positively testify to the fact that they had taken these ra- 
vines by stiff fighting long before 3.30 P.M., when the first flag of 
truce was sent in. Adjutant Leaming, of the garrison, distinct- 

* Rebellion Record, vol. viii. Italics not in original. 
373 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

\y states that McCulloch's men had taken the lower ravine and 
barracks before noon, and that their position was so much below 
the level of the fort that they could not use their guns on them. 
Captain James Marshall, of the gunboat, confirms this statement 
in his report. He says : " I went out into the stream. Major 
Booth and myself had previously established signals by which he 
could indicate certain points where he would want me to use my 
guns. He first signalled me to commence firing up what we call 
Number One ravine, just below the quartermaster's department. 
Then he signalled me to fire up Coal Creek ravine," etc.* 

The proof is, therefore, positive that Forrest had these positions 
long before the truce. The statements of Lieutenants Van Horn 
and Leaming were evidently made under a misapprehension of 
the movements of the two detachments under Barteau and An- 
derson, which took place while the truce was in force, and which 
movements were justified by the approaching boats. 

The charge of an indiscriminate massacre after the fort was 
taken, which spared neither age nor sex, white nor black, soldier 
nor civilian, is equally false with the charge of violation of the 
truce. In the first place, the Union official reports show there 
were no women or children in the fort when it was assaulted, and 
that such of the civilians as desired to go to a place of safety had 
the opportunity to leave. Those who remained voluntarily took 
up arms and fought with the garrison. Captain Marshall testi- 
fies : " / came along up, and the women and children, some sick ne- 
groes, and boys were standing around a great barge. I told them to 
get into the barge if they wished to save themselves, and I would take 
them out of danger. They went in, and I towed them up and landed 
them above Coal Creek ravine, where the rebel sharp-shooters com- 
menced firing at them. I told them to go up to a house. The trees 
and bushes around them there probably prevented them from being 
hit. On knowing that they were fired at, I kept a steady fire up to 
about one o clock!' The evidence shows that only one of these 
women was shot. 

Dr. C. Fitch, who was surgeon of the Fort Pillow garrison at 
this time, says : " Early in the morning all of the women and all 
of the non-combatants were ordered on to some barges, and were 

* Rebellion Record, vol. viii. p. 55. 
374 



THE "FORT PILLOW MASSACRE" 

towed by a gunboat up the river to an island before any one was 
hurt." * 

The testimony of these Union officers shows that the women 
and children were taken away from the fort before the assault, and 
disproves the charge of indiscriminate killing 

While it is true that the proportion of killed and wounded of 
the troops of the garrison engaged was unusually large, it must be 
borne in mind that the circumstances connected with the assault 
and capture of Fort Pillow were unusual, and in arriving at a just 
conclusion as to the cause of the great loss of life every feature of 
the battle should be carefully considered. 

The Federal reports show that they had suffered very great loss 
in the preliminary engagement before the fort was stormed. 
Lieutenant M. J. Leaming, Adjutant of the Thirteenth Tennessee, 
swore that Major Booth, the commanding officer, was killed 
about 9 A.M. ; that his adjutant fell about the same time.f He 
states also that about 8 A.M. two companies of his regiment were 
compelled to retire into the fort, after considerable loss, in which 
Lieutenant Barr was killed. " We suffered pretty severely in the 
loss of commissioned officers by the unerring aim of the rebel sharp- 
shooters." X Lieutenant Van Horn states that at this time Lieuten- 
ant John D. Hill was also killed in front of the works. About ii 
A.M., Leaming further says that the Union troops failed to destroy 
the barracks as ordered : " After severe loss on our part in the at- 
tempt to execute the order, our men were compelled to retire ;" 
and " from these barracks the enemy kept up a murderous fire on 
our men despite all our efforts to dislodge them." Finally, where 
the assault is described in his affidavit, he says, as the Confeder- 
ates began to climb to the parapet out of the ditch, " in the mean- 
time nearly all the officers had been killed, especially of the colored 
troops, and there was no one hardly to guide the men. I do not 
think the men who broke had a commissioned officer over them.'' 

In addition to this great loss before the works were gained, 
when the Confederates swarmed into the fort the slaughter must 
have been very much greater. The front rank of the assailants leaped 
right in among the defenders, and, placing their guns or pistols prac- 

* Southern Historical Society Papers, vol. vii. p. 439. 

t Rebellion Record, vol. viii. p. 23. 

X Official Records, vol, xxxii. part i. p. 559. 

375 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

tically touching their bodies, inflicted wounds almost of necessity 
instantly fatal. In this front line there were about six hundred 
of Forrest's men, and it is safe to estimate the garrison at not 
over five hundred at the time the Confederates appeared on 
the parapet. Six hundred guns and pistols at this close range, in 
the hands of such experts with fire-arms as these men were, must 
have inflicted an exceedingly heavy loss upon the five hundred of 
the garrison before they broke and fled. As the survivors turned 
to run, and were in the act of running away, six hundred more 
guns and pistols opened upon them from the parapet. Had the 
way to the edge of the bluff been clear they might have succeed- 
ed better in the effort to escape ; but it was not free and open. 
Tents occupied the rear of the enclosure, and in the narrow spaces 
or paths between the rows of tents the fugitives crowded each other, 
and, thus huddled together, the Confederates poured into them a de- 
liberate and terribly destructive fire. Of the original five hundred 
and seventyUnion troops who were on duty when the battle opened, 
fully two hundred and fifty never reached the bluff. When the Fed- 
eral commander saw the works were lost, as Forrest's men passed 
the ditch and were clambering upon the parapet, had he lowered 
his colors, waved a white flag, his troops thrown down their guns and 
shouted a " surrender," very many lives which were lost then and 
there would have been saved. But Major Bradford, as his supe- 
rior, General Hurlbut, stated, was inexperienced, and had agreed, 
in case the fort was successfully assaulted, to retreat beneath the 
bluff, as shown by the Federal reports, and this was his fatal 
error. Of those among the garrison who leaped over the bluff, 
about two hundred and seventy-five carried their guns with them. 
Major Anderson swears that he, immediately after the firing 
ceased, with a detail of men placed under him for this purpose, 
gathered up below the crest and counted this number of muskets 
and carbines, together with six cases of ammunition suitable for 
the arms of the garrison, which were already opened and placed 
there ready for distribution. 

The conduct of Major Bradford with the garrison points conclu- 
sively to the understanding to which Captain Marshall testifies, 
for as they jumped over the bluff they all ran south along the bank 
towards the steamboat landing in order to get out of the way of 
the canister which Marshall, from his gunboat, had agreed to fire 

376 



THE "FORT PILLOW MASSACRE" 

into the Confederates as they came in sight. In their retreat 
they went through a temporary " field hospital," in which Dr. 
Fitch was attending to some of their wounded who had been car- 
ried hither from the fort. Bradford and his oflficers and men evi- 
dently were not aware of the presence on the face of the bluff, 
either above or below the fort, of the two heavy detachments of 
sharp-shooters, about two hundred in each, for as they were rush- 
ing pell-mell to give the New Era a wide berth for her fire, 
they ran very near to Captain Anderson's detachment, which 
now arose from its place of concealment and emptied two hun- 
dred muskets into the Union troops, killing and wounding many, 
and also, unfortunately, shooting some of those already wounded. 
Still hoping for escape, the survivors rushed northward along the 
face of the bluff, only to meet another volley from Colonel Bar- 
teau's detachment, which turned them back again ; and now the 
troops who had carried the fort and were lining the top of the 
bank had had time to reload their guns, and joined in the fusillade. 
In this crisis, hemmed in on all sides, with escape or succor hope- 
less, many of those yet unhurt, having thrown down their guns 
or swords, raised their hands and ran towards the Confederates, 
begging for their lives. Had there been no exceptions to this 
conduct a much larger number would have been spared, but a 
volume of sworn testimony in the writer's possession shows pos- 
itively that some of the Federal troops, either from desperation or 
insane intoxication, more probably from the latter (as there is no 
doubt of the free distribution of liquor to the garrison), continued 
to resist by firing back at the Confederates. 

The desperate character of the resistance made by the Union 
troops is shown in the report of Major-General Hurlbut, made 
three days after the battle to General McPherson : "// is unques- 
tionably true that the colored troops fought desperately, and nearly 
all of them are now killed or wounded.'' * 

Lieutenant Van Horn, who was in the fight, states that the de- 
mand for unconditional surrender was returned with a decided re- 
fusal. The fight was renewed and raged with fury for some time 
when another flag of truce was sent in and another demand for 
surrender was made. " They assured us at the same time that they 

* Official Records, vol. xxxii. part i. p. 554. Italics are not in original. 

377 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

would treat us as prisoners of war. Another refusal was returned, 
when they again charged, and succeeded in carrying the works. 
There never was a surrender of the fort, both officers and men 
claiming they would never surrender or ask for quarter''^ It 
is clearly proven by this official report of a Federal officer who 
was present and took part in the fight, which report was selected 
by the commanding general of the military district as reliable and 
forwarded to his superior and thence to Washington, that no sur- 
render was made or zvas intended to be made by the officers or men 
of the garrison, and that they fought with desperation until nearly 
all were killed or wounded. In it is also the full admission that 
General Forrest tried to prevent this loss of life by assuring the 
black as well as white soldiers full protection as prisoners of war if 
they would surrender. 

It is difficult to measure the flight of time under circumstances 
of great excitement. Of the survivors whose affidavits follow, the 
highest estimate of the time from the sounding of the bugle to the 
last shot fired in the assault on Fort Pillow was twenty minutes. 
Some aver it could not have been more than three minutes. It is 
safe to estimate that from the time the Confederates reached the 
parapet until the firing ceased, not more than ten minutes could have 
elapsed. The moment Forrest saw his men leap from the para- 
pet into the fort he rode to the scene. He had been very pain- 
fully injured in the early part of the day, and was at this time 
sitting on his horse about four hundred yards distant in a direct 
line, and about six hundred yards by the route he was compelled 
to follow in avoiding the hillocks and fallen timber between him 
and the fort. 

Colonel D. M. Wisdom, now an officer in the United States 
government, a man of unquestionable character, swears that after 
he had entered the fort, and while the Federal flag was still fly- 
ing, General Forrest rode up on horseback and ordered him to go 
down the bluff and stop all firing by the Confederates on the re- 
treating garrison, and that he did as commanded, and the firing 
ceased at once. 

In the light of these facts, and at this time, it seems strange 
that the man who took most pains to secure the surrender of this 

* Official Records, vol. xxxii. part i. p. 570. Italics not in original. 

378 



CONSIDERATION FOR THE WOUNDED 

garrison without loss of life, guaranteeing protection to both white 
and black as prisoners of war before storming the fort, and who 
took such prompt measures to compel his troops to stop shooting 
after the success of the assault was assured, even when their flag 
was still flying over the fort, should have been assailed as a mur- 
derer and a barbarian ; and this, too, in the face of his treatment of 
the negro troops captured sixty days later at Brice's Cross-Roads, 
who had on their knees at Memphis taken an oath to show no 
quarter to Forrest's men. 

His consideration for the wounded at Fort Pillow is fully at- 
tested in the official instructions under which Major Anderson 
proceeded on the morning after the battle to the scene of the 
fight. " Burn all the houses at the fort, except the one used as a 
hospital. Leave the Federal surgeon, and such of the wounded 
as cannot travel or be moved, and parole them ; also the prison- 
ers ; and leave with them a nurse or two, or slightly wounded 
men, sufficient to wait upon them. Leave with the wounded five 
or six days' supply of provisions, and any medicine they may need."* 

Even so bitter a partisan as General Sherman, speaking of this 
affair in his Memoirs, says : " I was told by hundreds of our men, 
who were at various times prisoners in Forrest's possession, that 
he was usually very kind to them." 

As to the charge that wounded soldiers of the garrison were 
permitted to be burned in the conflagration which consumed the 
barracks, shanties, and tents in and about the fort, and that in one 
or two instances these unfortunate men were pinioned with nails, 
and thus tortured to death, is so absurd as scarcely to call for no- 
tice. Were it true, it could not, in any manner, reflect upon the 
character or reputation of General Forrest, who rode away imme- 
diately after the fight, and never returned to the scene of the 
battle. These occurrences were supposed to have taken place on 
the day following the fight. If any such horrible acts were com- 
mitted (and no mind capable of reasoning without prejudice can 
study the testimony and believe they were), they could only have 
been perpetrated during the night of the 12th and on the morn- 
ing of the 13th of April, before nine o'clock. After this hour the 
place was in possession of the Federal officers, under a truce in 

* Official Records, vol. xxxii. part ii. p. 664. 
379 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

caring for the wounded. The evidence is undeniable that no Con- 
federates were at Fort Pillow during the night. If any such acts 
were committed they must have been the work of the robbers, 
prowlers, and guerillas, not commanded by, or responsible to, any 
authority, who infested this section during this period. At six 
o'clock on the morning after the fight a small detachment, to 
look after the wounded and gather up any property which might 
have been overlooked in the hurried departure at nightfall of the 
1 2th, as well as to secure information, was sent by order of Gen- 
eral Chalmers from his camp, about two miles back from the river, 
to the fort. As these men arrived at the river-bank Captain Fer- 
guson was approaching from the direction of Memphis with his 
gunboat, the Silver Cloud. These, he reports, he shelled away, 
and then effected a landing, and arranged a truce with Captain 
Anderson, of Forrest's staff, who arrived later in the forenoon. 
Lieutenant Leaming, who was wounded and lying in one of 
the barrack buildings, corroborates this, as do other officers. The 
Confederate officer in command of this scouting party, seeing he 
was to be driven away by the gunboat, proceeded to set fire to the 
houses and tents, rather than to leave them standing, to be used 
again by the enemy. During the night several of the badly 
wounded had died, and their bodies in some of the buildings were 
consumed in the conflagration. One of the Union soldiers, J. W. 
Shelton (white), swears that he was wounded, and in a house with 
other wounded, and that the Confederates did not burn the house 
he and the others were in.* John Pennell (white Federal) swears 
that he and an officer of artillery were also wounded, and lying in 
one of the tents; that the Confederates came and told them to 
get out of the tent, " as they were going to burn it, and wanted to 
know whether we could walk. I said I could not. They helped 
me out, and made me walk some, but carried the officer out." 
They were removed to one of the houses, and later, when this was 
about to catch fire, they were again prevented from being burned 
by the warning of an officer. A number of the Federals were also 
assisting in removing the wounded. Lieutenant Leaming testifies 
that he was in one of the burning buildings, and was carried out, 
and " I think others got the rest out." 

* Official Records, vol. viii. p. 31. 
380 



THE CONGRESSIONAL REPORT A "WAR MEASURE" 

The committee were diligent in the effort to prove that Lieu- 
tenant Akerstrom was burned to death, yet John F. Ray, of Aker- 
strom's regiment (Thirteenth Tennessee), swears that Lieutenant 
Akerstrom was shot by his side, the ball entering through the fore- 
head, and, as he thought, was killed. 

It will, moreover, be recalled that one row of the barracks was 
burned by the garrison about nine o'clock on the morning of the 
fight, after a desperate struggle in and around these houses, in 
which a number of Federals and Confederates were killed, and no 
doubt their charred remains were found among the ruins. Fi- 
nally, if any of the wounded were buried alive, it must have been 
done while they were simulating death for fear of being shown 
no quarter, or because they became so profoundly stupefied from 
the liquor they had taken as to deceive the burying squad, which, 
as already shown, were all soldiers of the garrison. 

It is worthy of comment that of the seventy-eight witnesses 
who testified in relation to the capture of Fort Pillow, eighteen 
were not in sight or sound of this place on the day the battle oc- 
curred ; and yet some of these persons gave most graphic descrip- 
tions and detailed accounts of the Yiarrowing scenes. The pur- 
pose of the committee is evident in their use of such evidence, 
and coincides with the view that their report was a " war meas- 
ure," justified by them for the purpose for which it was intended. 
For instance, two officers. Lieutenants F. A. Smith and William 
Cleary, of the Thirteenth Tennessee, were in Memphis during the 
battle. Their testimony says that "the demand for surrender 
having been refused, the order was given by General Forrest in 
person, to charge upon the works and show no quarter. A scene 
of terror and massacre ensued. The rebels came pouring in 
solid masses right over the breastworks. . . . Captain Theodore 
F. Bradford was seen by General Forrest with the signal-flags. 
The general in person ordered Captain Bradford to be shot. He 
was instantly riddled with bullets, nearly a full regiment having 
fired their pieces upon him. Lieutenant J. C. Akerstrom was 
severely wounded after he had surrendered, and then nailed to 
the side of a house, and the house set on fire, burning him to death." 

The testimony of a number of other witnesses who were on the 
gunboat, or who as non-combatants were on an island fully a 
half-mile distant, was also accepted. 

381 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

The value of a report based upon evidence of this character 
cannot be great. There is further proof that the Federal authori- 
ties did not believe that a massacre really took place. On April 
15th, General Grant despatched to Sherman: " If our men have 
been murdered after capture, retaliation must be resorted to 
promptly."* 

Secretary of War Stanton, on the day following, directed Gen- 
eral Sherman as follows : " You will please direct a competent 
ofificer to investigate and report minutely, and as early as possible, 
the facts in relation to the alleged butchery of our troops at Fort 
Pillow." As no retaliation was ever made, there is in the fact of 
this investigation, directed by Stanton and Grant, an admission 
that no massacre occurred. 

The writer of this history had come in personal contact with 
many of Forrest's officers and men since the war, and from these, 
without exception, a positive denial of the story of the massacre, 
which the report of the sub-committee of Congress had asserted 
had taken place, was made. Within recent years that report has 
been submitted to a number of these survivors, with the request 
that a reply under oath be returned. 

Without exception they solemnly swear that they were present 
and took part in the capture of Fort Pillow on April 12, 1864, 
and that the testimony of certain witnesses made before the sub- 
committee of the United States Congress, stating that a massacre 
of the garrison took place after the fort was captured, is false. 
They make oath that no act was committed by the Confederate 
troops which in any way justified the report which that com- 
mittee submitted ; that no surrender was ever made ; that the 
soldiers of the garrison, when they retreated from the fort, took 
their guns with them, and some of them continued to make re- 
sistance by firing at the Confederates from beneath the bluff until 
they were shot down ; that others plunged into the river to escape 
down the stream by swimming, and refusing to return to the bank 
when ordered, were also fired at, and a number thus perished ; 
others, in fright or desperation, broke through the line, and not 
halting when commanded were pursued and shot. All but two 
of these witnesses swear that they saw the whiskey which had been 

* Official Records, vol. xxxii. part iii. p. 336. 

382 



TESTIMONY RELATING TO FORT PILLOW 

freely distributed to the troops within the works — and the state- 
ment is general that a large majority of the negroes and many of 
the whites, having free access to this liquor, demonstrated by their 
conduct that they were then under the demoralizing influence of 
this intoxicant — and that no cruelties were practised by Forrest's 
men upon any prisoner, wounded or unwounded. 

General James R. Chalmers, member of the United States 
Congress since the war, a lawyer of Memphis, Tennessee, was 
second in command to General Forrest in this engagement. He 
swears that the charge of a massacre is absolutely false ; that 
those of the garrison who were sober enough to realize the hope- 
lessness of their situation after the fort was stormed, surrendered, 
and thus escaped being killed or wounded ; that General Forrest 
rushed into the fort as quickly as he could ride from the posi- 
tion he occupied at the time of the assault, and while the fir- 
ing was going on beneath the bluff, and after the surrender of 
most of the whites and some sixty negroes had taken place, he 
gave orders to stop the firing, which was done immediately. One 
Confederate within his observation, who disregarded this order, 
he personally arrested and placed under guard for the offence. 
Some of the Federals, mostly negroes, who in fright or despera- 
tion broke through the Confederates in the effort to escape, were 
pursued and shot, as were those who attempted to escape by 
swimming down the river. Some of these were killed and some 
few succeeded in getting away. He further testifies " the Federal 
flag was not lowered and no surrender of the garrison was ever 
made. As the Federals rushed down the bluff they carried their 
guns with them, and many of them turned and fired as they re- 
treated, and continued to fire from beneath the bluff, and these 
were the only men shot after the flag was hauled down." 

Brigadier-General Tyree H. Bell, now a prominent citizen of 
Fresno, California, was in command of the right wing of the as- 
saulting column, and was among the first to reach the interior of 
the fort. He states, under oath: "The bugle sounded, and our 
command moved at once to the assault and scaled the walls of 
the fort, each man with his gun and navy-six loaded, the garrison 
firing continuously as they went over. Our troops never fired a 
gun utitil they landed inside the fort. The firing lasted not ex- 
ceeding three minutes, and there was no more firing from either side. 

3«3 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

I went over the parapet with my men, and the first thing I noticed 
after the firing ceased was three or four vessels of whiskey with 
tin cups attached." 

General Bell further testifies that he had these vessels over- 
turned to prevent his troops from getting at the liquor, and that 
General Forrest galloped to the fort almost immediately after the 
Confederates had gained an entrance, and ordered the firing to 
cease. " The captured prisoners were then detailed to bury their 
dead. Between sunset and dark we moved out with our command 
and the prisoners, and camped about fifteen miles back in the 
country. The drunken condition of the garrison and the failure 
of Colonel (Major) Bradford* to surrender, thus necessitating the 
assault, were the causes of the fatality. The statements in rela- 
tion to the alleged ' cruelty and barbarism ' practised by Forrest's 
command are a tissue of lies from end to end." 

Colonel Robert McCulloch, who commanded the left wing of 
the Confederates, now living at Clark's Fork, near Booneville, 
Missouri, and at this date Major-General of the Missouri Division 
of United Confederate Veterans, swears that there was no massa- 
cre at Fort Pillow, and that nothing occurred during or after the 
engagement which, with due regard for fairness and the truth of 
history, could be construed into a massacre. " Not a gun was 
fired, nor a prisoner or non-combatant shot, to my knowledge or 
belief, after the surrender was made. I do solemnly swear that I 
was a member of the command of General N. B. Forrest, and was 
present at, and took part in, the capture of Fort Pillow, on April 
12, 1864. That the testimony of certain witnesses made before 
the sub-committee of the United States Congress soon after the 
battle in 1864, stating that a massacre of the garrison took place 
after the fort was captured, is false. The presence of open whis- 
key barrels within the fort, together with the conduct of the 
troops after the Confederates had carried the works, showed 
plainly that a large proportion of the garrison were under the in- 
fluence of liquor at the time of the assault. The Federal flag fly- 
ing over the fort was not lowered until after the garrison had fled 
for refuge under the bluff immediately behind the works, and no 

* In some recruiting papers in the author's possession, taken at Fort Pil- 
low, this officer signs his name W. F. Bradford, Colonel. 

384 



"LION-HEARTED McCULLOCH" 

surrender was made by any officer of the garrison. As the Fed- 
eral soldiers rushed for the bluff they carried their guns with 
them, and many of them turned and fired at us as they retreated, 
and some continued to fire from the crowd below the bank." 

This gallant soldier, now in his seventy-eighth year, and near the 
close of his earthly career, adds to the above : " I was in a great 
many battles during the war, and know whereof I speak, and do 
not hesitate to say we never made a more manly or fairer fight." 

It is safe to say that no man who fought on either side during 
the war did so from higher motives or nobler convictions of right 
and duty than the " Lion-hearted McCuUoch," loved and respected 
wherever known. 

Colonel C. R. Barteau, one of Forrest's most gallant and trusted 
subordinates, at present (1899) practising law in Memphis, Ten- 
nessee, commanded the Second Tennessee in Bell's brigade, and 
went over the works with his soldiers. It was from his troops 
that the detail of about two hundred men was made to take posi- 
tion below the bank near the Coal Creek ravine. In his affidavit 
he states that a number of the Federals, after others had surren- 
dered, continued to fight beneath the bluff until they were shot 
down. " They were in a frenzy of excitement or drunken de- 
lirium. Some even, who had thrown down their arms, took them 
up again and continued firing. Some of my own men had to 
take down the flag.* The Federals did not do it, nor at any 
time make a surrender. During the truce they openly defied us 
from the breastworks to come and take the fort. All was done 
that could be done by General Forrest and his subordinates to 
save unnecessary loss of life and protect all who surrendered as 
soldiers in good faith. General Forrest deprecated the great 
slaughter that had taken place, and I heard him tell the prisoners 
it was the fault of their officers. The prisoners were placed in my 
charge, to be taken to Tupelo. Almost without exception they 
blamed their officers for the great loss of life. They told me that 
they had been led to believe that if they surrendered they would 
be killed by Forrest, and they were surprised and gratified at their 
humane treatment. On the route south, to relieve their fatigue, 
I had my men dismount at times and let the prisoners ride." 

♦ Private John Doak Carr, who died in 1897, at Hartsville, Tennessee. 
2 B * 385 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

Lieutenant-Colonel D. M. Wisdom, who led the Nineteenth Ten- 
nessee in the fight, and is now an officer of the government in the 
Department of the Interior, swears that no massacre occurred ; 
that the firing ceased when the troops under the bluff surrendered 
and the flag was lowered. His affidavit continues : " I will further 
state that after I had entered the fort, and while the Federal flag 
was still flying, General Forrest rode up on horseback and ordered 
me to go down the bluff and stop any and all firing by the Con- 
federates on the retreating garrison. General Forrest was ex- 
ceedingly anxious to check any undue slaughter, and those who 
accuse him of permitting a massacre do great injustice to the 
memory of * the bravest man in all the tide of time.' He was kind 
and humane to prisoners. Fort Pillow, considered at that time 
impregnable, was stormed by the Confederates with unsurpassed 
bravery, and no stain should rest upon their gallant leader." 

Major Charles W. Anderson was at the time of the fight Cap- 
tain and Acting Adjutant -General of the command. He now 
resides at Florence, in Rutherford County, Tennessee, and is 
President of the Confederate Veterans of that State. As he took 
such a prominent part in the encounter which occurred beneath 
the bluff, his affidavit is given in full : 

" I, Charles W. Anderson, of Florence, Rutherford County and State of 
Tennessee, do solemnly swear that I was at the time Captain of Cavalry and 
Acting Adjutant-General on the staff of General N. B. Forrest, and was the 
only member of the stafT with him at the capture of Fort Pillow, April 12, 
1864. Before the assault on the works I was temporarily placed in com- 
mand of three companies of dismounted men from McCulloch's brigade, 
and ordered to take position on the face of the bluff just below the fort, and 
prevent the landing of steamers (then approaching) during truce. 

" When Forrest's last and imperative demand for immediate surrender 
was refused, the general in person ordered me to * hold my position on the 
bluff, prevent any escape of the garrison by water, to pour rifle-balls into the 
open ports of the New Era when she went into action, and to 'fight every- 
thing blue betwixt wind and water until yonder flag comes down.' 

" When driven from the works, the garrison retreated towards the river, 
with guns in hand, and firing back, and as soon as in view we opened fire on 
them, and continued it rapidly until the Federal flag came down, when firing 
was stopped at once, the detachment ordered back to their regiment, and in 
less than two minutes after the flag came down I joined the general inside 
of the works. 

" To the best of my knowledge and belief it did not exceed twenty minutes 

386 



TESTIMONY RELATING TO FORT PILLOW 

from the time our bugles sounded for the assault until the fort was in our 
possession and firing had ceased on every part of the ground. 

" I further swear that six cases of rifle ammunition were found on the face 
of the bluff, in the immediate rear of the fort, with tops removed and ready 
for immediate distribution and use ; also that about two hundred and seventy- 
five serviceable rifles and carbines were gathered up between the water's 
edge and the brow of the bluff, where they had been thrown down by the 
garrison when they found the gunboat New Era had deserted them and 
escape impossible. As jny command did the most destructive as well as 
the very last firing done at Fort Pillow, the testimony of certain witnesses 
made before a sub-committee of the United States Congress, that a massacre 
of the garrison took place after capture, is false, and I further swear that to 
the best of my knowledge and belief the heavy loss in killed and wounded 
during their retreat was alone due to the incapacity of their commander, the 
drunken condition of the men, and the fatal agreement with and promise 
of Captain Marshall of the New Era to protect and succor them when driven 

from the works. 

"Charles W. Anderson." 

" State of Tennessee, ) 
County of Rutherford. \ 

" Personally appeared before me, W. H. Hindman, Notary Public of 
Rutherford County and State of Tennessee, Charles W. Anderson, of said 
County and State, who makes oath to the facts set forth in the above state- 
ment this February 23, 1898. 

"W. H. Hindman, 

" Notary Public of Rutherford County." 

The foUov^ring is the list of survivors who testify as stated on a 
previous page : 

Second Tennessee Cavalry, Barteau's Regiment.— loh^n. M. Cantrell, Third 
Lieutenant, Company D, Gallatin, Tennessee; Sheriff of Sumner County, 
Tennessee for six years ; now City Marshal of Gallatin ; member of Epis- 
copal Church. Dr. J. S. Harrison, Lieutenant, Company C, MacMinnville, 
Tennessee; practising physician at MacMinnville. B. H. Moore, Captain, 
Company G, Smith County, Tennessee. Joseph T. E. Odom, Captain, Com- 
pany F, Gallatin, Tennessee. George F. Hager, Lieutenant, Company G, Nash- 
ville, Tennessee ; druggist in Nashville ; member of the Methodist Church. 
R. R. Hancock, Sergeant, Company C, Auburn, Tennessee ; deacon and 
treasurer Baptist Church. Dr. Samuel Walker, Sergeant, Company G, De- 
Kalb County, Tennessee ; physician. J. R. Dougherty. Private, Company G, 
Auburn, Tennessee; member of Baptist Church. John H. Odom, Private, 
Company C, Auburn. Tennessee ; member of Baptist Church. S. C Odom, 
Private, Company C, Auburn, Tennessee ; member of Baptist Church. J. 
W. Hays, Private, Company C. Auburn, Tennessee; member of Baptist 
Church ; filled his canteen fronj a vessel of whiskey in the fort. D. B. Wil- 

387 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

lard, Private, Company C, Auburn, Tennessee. A. Barrett, Private, Com- 
pany C, Auburn, Tennessee. J. K. Dodd, Private. Company D, Gallatin, 
Tennessee; ex-Sheriflf Sumner County, Tennessee; United States Indian 
Agent. B. F. Knox, Private, Company C, Milton, Tennessee. S. F. Elliott, 
Private, Company D, Gallatin, Tennessee. H. G. Stevans, Private, Com- 
pany C, DeKalb County, Tennessee ; Missionary Baptist Church. W. C. 
Wert, Private, Company G, Carthage, Tennessee; Methodist Episcopal 
Church. Warren J. Webb, Aberdeen, Mississippi; Baptist Church. W. T. 
Robertson, Company D, Castalian Springs. Tennessee. J. T. Austin, Com- 
pany F, Sumner County, Tennessee; Deputy Sheriff and member of Baptist 
Church. W. G. Colley, Company F, Sumner County, Tennessee. R. M. 
Ireland, Company D. G. B. Dobbins, of Salt Lake City, Utah. 

Nineteenth and Twentieth Tennessee, Russell's Regiment. — William Gay, 
Captain, Company A, Gibson County, Tennessee ; ex-Treasurer Gibson 
County; Cumberland Presbyterian Church. W. W. Harrison, Sergeant, 
Gibson County, Tennessee ; Deputy County Clerk. John R. Dance, First 
Lieutenant, Company D, Gibson County, Tennessee. Mark Hurt, Private, 
Company G, Gibson County, Tennessee. J. G. Wynne, Company F, Dyer 
County, Tennessee ; ex-Sheriff Dyer County, Tennessee. W. M. Rasberry, 
Private, Company E, McCrory, Arkansas. J. J. White, Private, Company 
H, Weakley County, Tennessee. S. P. Scott, Private, Company H, Weakley 
County, Tennessee. Joseph Smith, Dyersburg, Tennessee. J. A. Coving- 
ton, Company H, Twentieth Tennessee, Dresden, Tennessee. 

Dr. J. T. Jones, Private, Company G, Twenty-first Tennessee, Madison 
County, Tennessee; ex-President West Tennessee Medical Association; 
Health Officer Madison County; steward, Methodist Church. E. T. Bohan- 
non. Acting Quartermaster, Fifteenth Tennessee, Trezevant, Tennessee. A. J. 
McCorkle, Private, Fifteenth Tennessee, Dyer County, Tennessee. Dr. W. J. 
Robinson, Private, Sixteenth Tennessee, Gibson County, Tennessee ; saw 
one negro shot after the order to cease firing ; General Chalmers arrested 
the man who fired. J. L. Knox, Captain, Company E, Eighteenth Missis- 
sippi, Panola County, Mississippi ; was Lieutenant at time of battle ; Tax 
Assessor; member Mississippi State Legislature. W.J. Floyd, Private, Eigh- 
teenth Mississippi, Panola County, Mississippi. E. H. Dunlap, Private, 
Eighteenth Mississippi, Panola County, Mississippi. J. O. Askew, Eigh- 
teenth Mississippi, Panola County, Mississippi. James A. Watson, Private, 
Company A, McDonald's Battalion, Tennessee. W. J. Shaw, Captain, Com- 
pany A, McDonald's Battalion, Forked Deer, Tennessee; ex-Sheriff Hay- 
wood County. W. W. Gilmore, First Sergeant, Company K, Fifth Missis- 
sippi, Senatobia, Mississippi. T. F. Keating, Company H, Fifth Mississippi 
Cavalry, Panola County, Mississippi. Robert Brown, Tunica County, Mis- 
sissippi. 

Lieutenant (afterwards Captain) J. L. Knox, now of Batesville, 
Mississippi, swears; " My captain, W. G. Middleton, was painfully 

388, 



TESTIMONY RELATING TO FORT PILLOW 

wounded after the fort was captured, and when he, in pursuit of 
the retreating garrison, had reached the edge of the bluff." This 
is conclusive evidence that the Federals were still shooting from 
their position near the water's edge. He further says under oath : 
" I know that General Forrest rode down the line as soon as he 
reached the scene and commanded and caused the firing to cease." 

Dr. W. J. Robinson states that with a single exception there 
was no shooting after the order to cease firing was given. In this 
instance a soldier shot a negro, and was at once arrested and 
placed under guard by General Chalmers. 

Mr. J. C. McAdoo, of Watertown, Tennessee, states that he 
saw the whiskey in the fort, and filled his canteen from a barrel 
by the consent of the guard who had been placed to watch it by 
General Bell. There was no surrender. He further says that the 
firing beneath the bluff was at the Federals who were endeavor- 
ing to escape. 

Mr. Joseph Smith, of Dyersburg, states: " I was one of the de- 
tail to gather up the guns after the fighting was over, and wher- 
ever we found a dead Federal we found a gun. In regard to the 
whiskey found, I did not see it myself, but heard it spoken of at 
the time. I am a farmer, and have lived in Dyer County for 
seventy years." 

Mr. J. K. Dodd says: "I cannot swear as to the presence of 
whiskey in the fort to my own knowledge. I was one of a detail 
that was sent in the rear of the fort (beneath the bluff at the Coal 
Creek ravine), and was wounded there. The Federals (after the 
fort was carried) came tumbling down upon us." 

Mr. W. C. Wert makes aflSdavit : " My company was on the 
extreme right, and the men of our regiment (Barteau's) were 
about the first in the fort. I saw several buckets of whiskey 
sitting within the works after we captured the place. The enemy 
retreated over and down the bluff, and carried their guns with 
them and continued to fight. They turned back up the river, 
still fighting, and we fired and killed a great many. Some sur- 
rendered, but others would shoot at us." 

Lieutenant Hager says : " I saw the vessels of whiskey, and 
know the flag of the fort was not lowered until it was cut down 
by private Doak Carr of our (Second Tennessee, Barteau's) regi- 
ment." 

389 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

Dr. J. S. Harrison, of MacMinnville, Tennessee, says : "The 
garrison kept firing at us as they retreated down the bluff. I am 
certain no one was killed after the fight closed." 

Captain William J. Shaw states (April 6, 1898): " I was arrested 
by Major Bradford's command and confined in Fort Pillow. Two 
days before the fight I secured a permit to visit my home, which 
was near this place. The night I arrived at home I was arrested 
by Forrest's command and taken as a guide to conduct them to 
the fort. When the charge was made and the fort captured I 
went inside, and Captain Poston of the Thirteenth Tennessee 
Union Cavalry ran up to me and said: ' Mr. Shaw, will you place 
me in the protection of an officer?' I said I would, and did this at 
once. I heard him, before he recognized me, say to a Confederate 
soldier, who was a neighbor to both Captain Poston and myself, 
that he had surrendered, and the soldier replied that from the way 
in which he (Captain Poston) had behaved towards his family he 
did not think he should be allowed to surrender. It was then 
that Poston came to me, and I conducted him to an officer. 
After the war Captain Poston lived in my county, and was one 
of my best friends to the day of his death. The soldiers told me 
they had orders to run under the bluff for protection by the gun- 
boat." 

Rev. D. C. Kelley, now a minister at Columbia, Tennessee, tes- 
tifies that a day or two after the fight at Fort Pillow, in a conver- 
sation with General Forrest in regard to the colored troops, the 
general said that he was opposed to the killing of negro troops ; 
that it was his policy to capture all he could and return them to 
their owners. 



CHAPTER XV 

EXPEDITION UNDER GENERAL S. D. STURGIS, AND THE BATTLE 
AT BRICE'S CROSS-ROADS 

Overwhelming Defeat of the Federal Army — Forrest's Success Pronounced one of the 
most Signal Victories of the Civil War — Morton's Charge with the Artillery — After 
Seven Hours of Desperate Fighting Sturgis is Beaten, and his Command Driven, a 
Panic-stricken Mass, from the Field — Relentless Pursuit for nearly Fifty Miles from 
the Battle-field — Capture of Eighteen Pieces of Artillery and over Two Hundred and 
Fifty Wagons — Federal Loss in Killed, Wounded, and Captured, 2612, 

IN the spring and summer of 1864 two great masters in strategy 
were playing a memorable game of war among the pine-clad 
hills of Georgia. Sherman, fiercely aggressive, with an army 
larger and better equipped, was slowly yet surely pushing Johnston 
back upon Atlanta. The latter, with matchless skill, was contest- 
ing every foot of ground, and inflicting heavy loss upon his antag- 
onist ; but despite these losses it was clear to the Union com- 
mander that he had this army of the Confederacy at his mercy, if 
he could keep his troops well supplied from the north and west 
until the corn with which the Southern fields were teeming was 
suflficiently ripened to supply subsistence to his men and animals. 
It would seem from his official despatches that his chief source of 
anxiety was that "that devil Forrest" (as he termed him) would 
get into Tennessee and break the railroads in his rear. From the 
time immediately after the Meridian expedition, when Sherman 
was ordered to Nashville and thence to Chattanooga to take com- 
mand of the Army of the Tennessee, the burden of his corre- 
spondence was that Forrest must be killed or crippled. He even 
went so far as to offer a major-general's commission to one of his 
brigadiers if he would kill Forrest. " It must be done, if it costs 
ten thousand lives and breaks the Treasury."* In case the wily 
fox could not be killed or crippled he must be kept busy where he 
was. 

* Official Records, vol. xxxix. part ii. pp. 121, 142. 
391 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

When in March the Confederate cavalryman broke through the 
Union cordon and settled himself down in west Tennessee, as if 
he had come there to stay, Sherman directed the Federal com- 
mander at Memphis to leave Forrest where he was, saying that 
he could do less harm by " cavorting over the country " there 
than elsewhere. It was only after General Grant had become con- 
vinced that Forrest was making a too profitable use of this terri- 
tory that he urged Sherman to send troops enough there to drive 
him back into Mississippi. This, as has been shown in a preced- 
ing chapter, they succeeded in doing, and now that they had him 
south of the Tennessee border it became the prime object of Sher- 
man and Grant to keep him so engaged that he would not get 
into Tennessee again. 

The first essential to success was to find a commander equal to 
the emergency. General William Sooy Smith had been tried and 
found wanting, and Major-General Stephen A. Hurlbut, who had 
been at the head of this department with headquarters at Mem- 
phis, had also fallen into disfavor by reason of his failure to defeat 
the redoubtable Confederate ; and now General C. C. Washburn 
had been appointed in his stead. The choice fell upon General 
Samuel D. Sturgis, who as brigadier-general commanding the 
cavalry corps in the Department of the Ohio had, in this same year 
of 1864, achieved such success in his operations in east Tennessee 
as to receive the special congratulations of the commanding gen- 
eral " upon your handsome success."* 

He had taken part in the movement which drove Forrest from 
Tennessee in April and the early part of May of this same year, 
and had then been ordered by General Washburn to pursue him 
into Mississippi and punish him. Although on this occasion he 
did not succeed in catching " the scoundrel," he does not seem to 
have incurred the displeasure of his commander for this shortcom- 
ing. He kept on in the hopeless chase as far as Ripley, Missis- 
sippi, and then gave it up. In his of^cial despatch to General 
Washburn, dated May 7th, he says : " Upon reaching Ripley I 
found that the rear of Forrest's command had passed through that 
place nearly two days before. It was here that I had hoped, al- 
most against hope, to intercept him, but as he was abundantly 

* Official Records, vol. xxxii. part i. p. 138. 
392 



STURGISS OPINION OF FORREST 

supplied with forage he was able to travel day and night, and 
thus elude our most strenuous exertions. It was with the greatest 
reluctance that I resolved to abandon the chase. Although we 
could not catch the scoundrel we are at least rid of him, and that 
is something." * 

From Memphis, on May 13th, he wrote Sherman in the same 
vein of disappointment, but promised greater things when another 
occasion should offer : " My little campaign is over, and I regret 
to say Forrest is still at large. He did not go to west Tennes- 
see for the purpose of fighting, unless it might so happen that 
he could light upon some little party or defenceless place ; and 
being well mounted, and having, of course, every facility of gain- 
ing information of our movements, it is idle to follow him except 
with an equal force of cavalry, which we have not in that part 
of the country. I say ' except with an equal force of cavalry,' 
but even then he has so many advantages, and is so disposed to 
run, that I feel that all that could be done in any case would be 
to drive him out, unless, indeed, he might be trapped, as might 
have been the case if a force had been sent to co-operate with 
mine at Purdy. I regret very much that I could not have the 
pleasure of bringing you his hair, but he is too great a plunderer 
to fight anything like an equal force, and we have to be satisfied 
with driving him from the State. He may turn on your com- 
munications — I rather think he will, but I see no way to prevent 
it from this point with this force." f 

General Sturgis's prognostications were in part correct. Forrest 
was about to turn on Sherman's communications, and although 
he (Sturgis) saw no way of preventing it, the great soldier who 
was controlling the destinies of the Army of the Tennessee did 
see a way to keep him off. General Washburn was urged to send 
at once a formidable expedition in the direction of Tupelo, or 
wherever Forrest was ; and for this purpose there marched out of 
Memphis and Lafayette on the ist of June, 1864, 4800 infantry, 
3300 cavalry, and about 400 artillerists with 22 pieces, and a sup- 
ply train of 250 wagons and ambulances.:}: 

In his ofificial report General Washburn says: "The number of 

* Official Records, vol. xxxii, part i. p. 697. t Ibid. p. 698. 

X Ibid. vol. xxxix. part i. pp. 89-90. Sturgis's report. 

393 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

troops deemed necessary by General Sherman was six thousand, 
but I sent eight thousand. Everything was in complete order, 
and the force consisted of some of our best troops. I saw to it 
personally that they lacked nothing to insure a successful cam- 
paign." 

Not only were these troops selected for their special fitness for 
fighting, but they were armed with Colt's repeating- rifles and 
breech-loading carbines, the most formidable and effective weap- 
ons known to warfare at that date. The cavalry, numbering thirty- 
three hundred was divided into two brigades; the first, fifteen 
hundred strong, accompanied by a battery of six pieces of artil- 
lery, was commanded by Colonel George E. Waring, Jr. ; on record 
as an excellent soldier and good fighter, having led in person in 
the fight with Forrest at Okolona, one of the most brilliant caval- 
ry charges made during the war, and although, as Colonel Waring 
modestly says, " the charge was without effect, except as a diver- 
sion," and although, when repulsed, his men were driven with con- 
siderable precipitation back to their starting-point, General Forrest 
reported it as " the grandest cavalry charge I ever witnessed," The 
second brigade, of eighteen hundred men and four guns, was com- 
manded by Colonel E. F. Winslow, and this officer had shown such 
ability as to win the commendation of General Sherman for his con- 
duct when in command of the cavalry in the expedition from Vicks- 
burg to Meridian in February, 1864. These two brigades formed 
a division, under the command of Brigadier-General B. H. Grierson, 
one of the best cavalry commanders at that date in the Federal 
army. 

The infantry, numbering forty-eight hundred, was divided into 
three brigades. The first, commanded by Colonel A. Wilkins, 
two thousand strong, with six pieces of artillery. The second, un- 
der Colonel G. B. Hoge, sixteen hundred strong, with four guns. 
The third, twelve hundred colored troops, with two pieces of ar- 
tillery, under Colonel Edward Bouton. These three brigades were 
formed into a division and placed temporarily under the direction 
of an excellent soldier, Colonel W. L. McMillen. The entire ex- 
pedition was under Brigadier General Samuel D. Sturgis. Colo- 
nel Waring says : " We were a force of about nine thousand in- 
fantry, cavalry, and artillery, sent out by Sherman as a tub to the 
Forrest whale, a diversion to keep this commander from joining 

394 



FORCE SENT TO DESTROY FORREST'S CAVALRY 

Hood in northern Georgia, though I doubt if even General Sher- 
man in his moments of wildest enthusiasm anticipated just the 
issue that followed. We were well supplied for a campaign of 
any length, and, judging from the mess-tables we were invited to, 
others of the command were no less well provided." * 

General Sturgis's orders were to strike the Mobile and Ohio 
railroad at or near Corinth, Mississippi, to capture any force that 
might be there, proceeding south, destroying the railroad to Tu- 
pelo and Okolona, and as far as possible towards Macon and Co- 
lumbus ; thence back to Memphis by way of Grenada, and inci- 
dentally to disperse and destroy Forrest's cavalry. These orders 
also embraced the destruction of everything in that rich section, 
which was then called the "granary of the South," which would 
support life. 

On the third day out, having learned that the Confederates had 
evacuated Corinth and gone south, Sturgis changed his direction, 
intending to strike the Mobile and Ohio railroad below this point, 
and to intercept the Confederates, who had advanced in the direc- 
tion of Corinth two days before, and were now, as he was informed, 
retreating towards Okolona. On the 4th of June, Grierson, who 
was in the lead with the cavalry, despatched Colonel Joseph 
Karge, with four hundred troops, to march to Rienzi on the Mo- 
bile and Ohio railroad, some ten miles south of Corinth. When 
this expedition reached Rienzi, the Confederates had already 
passed south. Colonel Karg^ destroyed the depot buildings, but 
before the railroad could be materially damaged, Forrest's troop- 
ers turned on him, and drove him away precipitately. General 
Sturgis, bearing farther southward with his command, struggled 
slowly on through the mud and rain, over bad roads, traversing a 
section of country at that time stripped of supplies, and almost 
deserted by its inhabitants ; and although the distance was but 
seventy-five miles from his starting-point, it was not until the 7th 
of June that he reached the town of Ripley in Tippah County. 
On this day (June 7th) Winslow's brigade, which had been order- 
ed by General Grierson to advance on the New Albany road, 
came into collision with two regiments of Confederates under 
Colonel Edward W. Rucker, who had been sent " to feel the en- 

* Whip and Spur. 
395 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

emy," with orders to retire when he met them, without bringing on 
an engagement. Holding Winslow at arm's-length, Rucker re- 
ported to Forrest at Booneville on the night of June 9th. 

Colonel Rucker, on May 24th, had been placed in command of 
a fragment of a brigade composed of the Seventh Tennessee, Colo- 
nel W. L. Duckworth ; Eighth Mississippi, Colonel W. L. DufT, 
and Lieutenant -Colonel A, H. Chalmers's Mississippi battalion, 
with Captain J. C. Thrall's battery attached. Under his resolute 
leadership they won great fame as desperate fighters. 

On this same night (June 9th) General Sturgis had concentrated 
his entire command, and went into camp at Stubbs's farm, on. the 
road leading from Ripley's by Brice's Cross-Roads in a southeast- 
erly direction to Guntown, a station on the Mobile and Ohio rail- 
road, six miles beyond Brice's place. Here, as he reports, he sent 
back to Memphis "four hundred worn-out, sick, and disabled 
members of his command," about one hundred of whom belonged 
to the cavalry, leaving ready for duty and to take part in the bat- 
tle of the next day thirty-two hundred cavalry, forty-five hundred 
infantry, four hundred artillerists (eighty-one hundred men) with 
twenty-two pieces. 

On the 1st of June, as Sturgis was marching out of Memphis, 
General Forrest, under orders from General S. D. Lee, left Tupelo, 
Mississippi, with two thousand men, and started on a raid into 
middle Tennessee, directed against the Nashville and Chattanooga 
railroad in Sherman's rear. Several days earlier (on the 26th of 
May) the Confederate general, who did not seem to pay much 
respect to the presence of Sturgis at the head of the cavalry 
about Memphis, had sent a request to General Lee, asking wheth- 
er an expedition against that city would meet with his approba- 
tion, and no doubt he astonished his superior by saying " a few 
hours' work would enable me to fight successfully all the so-called 
gunboats they have. This would be a means of preventing rein- 
forcements to the trans-Mississippi Department, and from thence, if 
necessary, we would move into middle Tennessee. If, however, it 
is deemed better to move into middle Tennessee, I can do so from 
here (Tupelo) better than from Corinth, as it would be nearer, 
and the enemy would have but little opportunity to know of it 
until we reached Tuscumbia." 

The proposed movement on Memphis and west Tennessee was 

396 



ORDERS AND COUNrER-ORDERS 

not however approved, for General Lee had determined to send 
Forrest to middle Tennessee to bre?.k up the railroads leading 
from Nashville to the south. On the 29th of May, from Tupelo, 
General Forrest telegraphed General Lee that " the time has ar- 
rived, and if I can be supported and allowed two thousand picked 
men from Buford's division and a battery of artillery, I will at- 
tempt to cut the enemy's communications in middle Tennessee." 

With this in view, Forrest on the 3d of June had proceeded as 
far as Russellville, in Franklin County, north Alabama, where he 
was overtaken by a despatch from Lee, stating that an expedition 
had left Memphis, as he believed, for the invasion of Mississippi, 
and directing him to retrace his steps as rapidly as possible. This 
Forrest did, as is shown from the fact that he arrived in advance 
of his command in Tupelo by the 6th of June. Here he learned 
of the general direction of Sturgis's march, and of the detachment 
which had started towards Rienzi. Ordering Rucker to proceed 
to that village, and directing him to reconnoitre from thence in the 
direction of New Albany, while Bell followed Rucker as far as 
Rienzi, and halted. General Forrest, with his escort and the ar- 
tillery, remained at Booneville, on the Mobile and Ohio railroad, 
where he was joined by Colonel Rucker at sundown on the 9th of 
June. At this time, while Sturgis had concentrated his entire 
command at Stubbs's, nine miles from Brice's Cross-Roads, where 
the battle was to be fought on the morrow, Forrest's command 
was distributed as follows : 

Bell's brigade, of Buford's division, numbering, as shown in the 
official report of this officer for that day, 2787 men, was at Rienzi, 
twenty-five miles from Brice's ; Rucker's brigade, 700 strong, was 
with Forrest^ at Booneville, eighteen miles from where the battle 
was fought ; while Johnson's and Lyon's brigades, 500 and 800 re- 
spectively, were at Baldwyn, a little village six miles from Brice's 
Cross-Roads, these villages being on the road leading from Rienzi 
through Booneville and Baldwyn in a southwesterly direction 
towards Pontotoc. This road upon which Forrest would move, 
and that along which Sturgis was to march, running southeasterly 

* In addition to the troops here mentioned, General Forrest had his escort 
company of about eighty-five, under Captain Jackson, and a company of 
Georgians under Captain Gartrell, about fifty strong, on headquarters duty, 
reinforcing his escort. 

397 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

to Fulton, crossed each other nearly at a right-angle at Brice's 
farm, better known as Brice's Cross-Roads. The artillery, under 
Captain John W. Morton, consisting of his own and Rice's bat- 
tery, was also at Booneville at this time, where General Lee had 
just arrived in order to confer with General Forrest. It was Lee's 
opinion that the cavalry should retire in the direction of Oko- 
lona, permitting Sturgis to advance as far as possible away from 
his base of suppHes and place of refuge in Memphis before giving 
him battle. He therefore directed General Forrest to march on 
the following morning from Booneville in the direction of Brice's 
Cross-Roads, and thence towards Prairie Mound and Okolona. 
Orders to this effect were immediately issued by Forrest, and 
three days' rations prepared. Two batteries of artillery. Thrall's 
and Ferrill's, and all supplies not needed there, were placed on the 
train and sent southward by rail on the night of the 9th with 
General Lee. It became a matter of discussion after the cam- 
paign was over, whether General Forrest fully concurred in the 
opinion of his superior as to the propriety of retreating in ad- 
vance of Sturgis, and of permitting him to further devastate the 
prairie country. The statement of Colonel Rucker is suflficient 
evidence upon this question. He says: " Late that night Forrest 
called a council of his officers, more to discuss the reports that 
he had received than for any other purpose." * 

General Buford, Colonel Rucker, and Captain Morton, com- 
manding the artillery, were present. General Bell was absent, 
being at Rienzi, seven miles farther north, while Lyon was at 
Baldwyn, twelve miles away to the south. General Forrest stated 
that he had information which was reliable, that the enemy was 
then encamped at Stubbs's farm on the Ripley and Guntown 
road, and that while he would prefer to get them into the open 
country, as desired by General Lee, where he could " get a good 
look at them," he added that an emergency might arise which 
would necessitate a conflict before the prairie country could be 
reached, and before a concentration with Generals Lee and Chal- 
mers in the vicinity of Okolona could be effected. 

It was evident then to the mind of Forrest, from the situation 
of the two forces, that a conflict was almost inevitable, and it is a 

* The author is indebted to Colonel E. W. Rucker for these details, 

398 



FORESIGHT OF FORREST 

Fact that he had foreseen this collision at the point where it did 
take place, two days before it occurred. 

Colonel D. C. Kelley, now living at Columbia, Tennessee, states 
that he was the bearer of a despatch from General Forrest to Colo- 
nel W. A. Johnson of Roddey's division, who at that time was on 
the way from north Alabama to effect a junction with Forrest 
near Rienzi or Corinth. On June 8th, two days before the bat- 
tle, Forrest requested him to hasten as quickly as possible to 
meet Colonel Johnson and tell him to press forward with all pos- 
sible speed in the direction of Baldwyn and Brice's Cross-Roads, 
that from the direction the enemy were moving, and from their 
present position and his own, he expected to be obliged to fight 
them there about the loth of June.* 

General S. D. Lee, in a personal communication in 1897, informs 
the writer that Forrest had not been ordered to avoid a conflict 
with Sturgis under any and all circumstances. While he believed 
that Sturgis could ultimately be defeated, and that the defeat, tak- 
ing place farther down in Mississippi, would prove more disastrous 
to the Federal expedition, he left General Forrest with full discre- 
tion to act in any emergency as his judgment might dictate. 

These statements of General Lee and Colonels Kelley and 
Rucker, all of whom are living at this time (1898), prove beyond 
any doubt that Forrest, while ready to carry out the plan of his 
superior, had foreseen the encounter which occurred at Brice's 
Cross-Roads, and had made preparations to meet the issue then 
and there. On the night of the 9th of June, after the meeting 
just detailed. General Forrest sent a courier to Bell to have ra- 
tions issued to his men and everything in readiness to move 
promptly before daylight in the morning, and to push forward as 
rapidly as possible in the direction of Brice's Cross-Roads. Sim- 
ilar instructions were conveyed to Colonels Rucker, Lyon, and 
Johnson, and to Captain Morton of the artillery. Lyon's brigade 
was ordered in the advance ; Rucker, and then Johnson, who with 
a portion of his brigade had just arrived, jaded and worn out by 
a forced march from Alabama, were next in order, while Bell 
brought up the rear. The artillery, twelve pieces in all, was at 
Booneville, and had eighteen miles of muddy road to cover ; but, 

* Manuscript of Rev. D. C. Kelley, in possession of the author. 

399 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

rain or shine, Forrest well knew that Morton would be where he 
could put his hand on him when most needed. 

A heavy rain had fallen on the 8th of June, and on the after- 
noon and evening of the 9th it came down in torrents, and did 
not cease until after midnight ; but about daybreak the clouds 
broke away and vanished, and when the sun came up it ushered 
in one of those hot, humid, and depressing days characteristic 
of this season of the year in this section of the Southern country. 

By the time it was light enough to see the roadway, the 
Confederate troops were in motion. Between seven and eight 
o'clock in the morning, while riding at the head of his column. 
Colonel Rucker says that General Forrest rode by his side. 
He told Rucker that he intended to attack the Federals at 
Brice's. " I know they greatly outnumber the troops I have at 
hand, but the road along which they will march is narrow and 
muddy ; they will make slow progress. The country is densely 
wooded and the undergrowth so heavy that when we strike them 
they will not know how few men we have. Their cavalry will 
move out ahead of the infantry, and should reach the cross-roads 
three hours in advance. We can whip their cavalry in that time. 
As soon as the fight opens they will send back to have the infan- 
try hurried up. It is going to be as hot as hell, and coming on a 
run for five or six miles over such roads, their infantry will be so 
tired out we will ride right over them. I want everything to 
move up as fast as possible. I will go ahead with Lyon* and the 
escort and open the fight." 

While Forrest had everything on the move by four o'clock on 

* Colonel, afterwards Brigadier-General, Hylan B. Lyon was one of For- 
rest's most devoted followers ; a stubborn fighter, exhibiting at times a reck- 
lessness akin to desperation. 

An incident which occurred at a small village known as Red Hill, in Mar- 
shall County, Alabama, will serve to show the spirit and determination of 
this officer. 

Having been sent on detached duty in this section, Lyon, who had been 
promoted to a brigadier-generalship, with two members of his staflf was stay- 
ing for the night at the residence of a Mr. Noble. A little before daylight 
they were awakened by a knock at the door and a sound of persons convers- 
ing without. Thinking he recognized one of the voices as that of Captain 
Terry, one of his subordinates. General Lyon went to the door and said : " Is 
that you, Terry? What do you want ?" A voice replied : " Yes, I want to 

400 



NARROW ESCAPE OF GENERAL LYON 

the morning of the loth, the Federals were still in camp. Their 
commander was not in the happiest frame of mind. He was 
weighed down by the responsibility of his position, and experi- 
enced, as he states in his official report, " a sad foreboding of the 
consequences."* He was practically in ignorance of the position 

see you, general." With this Lyon opened the door, and to his surprise a 
Federal officer followed by several soldiers, with pistols cocked and present- 
ed, rushed in upon him, the officer saying: " I am an officer of the Fifteenth 
Pennsylvania Cavalry, and you are my prisoner." Colonel Lyon made no 
resistance, but asked to be permitted to dress himself. The officer consent- 
ed, and with his men followed him to the door of the sleeping-room from 
which he had been aroused. It was pitch-dark, and the Union officer, stand- 
ing at or in the door of the room, insisted that a light should be made. Gen- 
eral Lyon responded, as he was drawing on his trousers and boots, that the 
fire was entirely out, and that he had no possible means of making a light. 
Just at this moment a considerable uproar was heard in the yard and sur- 
rounding the house, and in the road just in front of it. A number of voices 
cried out : " Yonder comes the cavalry !" Taking advantage of this commo- 
tion, and, of course, unobserved by the Federal officer, who, notwithstanding 
the darkness, by the sound of his voice, was readily located as standing in 
'the door. General Lyon, with his trousers and boots on, but in his shirt- 
sleeves, reached quickly under the pillow of his bed and drew out his two 
army pistols which had been placed there, as was his custom, on retiring. 
With one in each hand he stepped towards the door and fired both at once, 
killing the officer, as it happened, instantly ; then continuing to fire, he 
jumped over the dead body into the hallway, and ran towards the rear of the 
house. The other Federals hesitated to fire at him for fear of shooting each 
other, and in this way the general made his escape across the back porch of 
the residence and out into the darkness. One of his fellow-officers, hearing 
the firing, had jumped out through the window of an adjoining room. Gen- 
eral Lyon, in order to stampede the Federal troops which were around the 
house as he gained the yard, shouted : " Surround them, men, and capture 
all of them !" The sudden firing, the death of the officer, and the clatter of 
horses in rapid movement, which was heard only a short distance down the 
road, as well as the command of General Lyon to surround and capture the 
enemy, impressed the Federals that they had fallen into a trap, and caused 
them to retreat precipitately. Taking advantage of the situation, Lyon and 
his companion escaped. 

The record in the War Department at Washington bears this note : " Ser- 
geant Arthur P. Lyon, Company A, Fifteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, killed 
on the morning of January i5tb by the rebel General Lyon, after he had 
taken him prisoner." 

* Official Records, vol. xxxix. part i. p. 91. 
2C 401 



/LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

and number of the enemy. The white citizens in the country 
through which he had travelled would give him no information, 
and the negroes who flocked to him told such conflicting stories 
that he placed little reliance on their reports. He had, however, 
learned enough to know that Forrest was somewhere in his front 
or flank and not very far away, and that he could not proceed 
much farther southward without finding him in his path. It was 
in his heart to turn back to Memphis, but he had only recently 
been sent in this same direction in pursuit of Forrest, and had 
gone back without a fight. He had said then to Sherman and 
Washburn, in an apologetic strain, how sorry he was that he could 
not catch " the scoundrel," and " bring you his hair " as a trophy ; 
and now, after so much boastful talk, he felt it incumbent upon 
him to go on. 

At 5.30 the Union cavalry under Grierson mounted their horses 
and moved out in the direction of Brice's. With fateful leisure 
the infantry cooked their breakfast, and did not march until seven 
o'clock. The advance-guard of Waring's brigade of Grierson's 
division encountered the Confederate outposts at the Tishomingo 
Creek bridge, drove these away, reached Brice's Cross-Roads at 
9.45, and pursued the flying Confederates, who, turning to the left 
at Brice's, ran in the direction of Baldwyn. Along this road War- 
ing proceeded for a mile until he came to the edge of a field 
through which the road runs, and here he encountered the ad- 
vance of Lyon's brigade, which had just arrived upon the oppo- 
site side of this clearing about four hundred yards distant. 

Two companies of Faulkner's Kentuckians, under Captain H. 
A. Tyler, formed Lyon's advance, and by a dashing charge had 
not only developed Waring's brigade, but a battery of artillery, 
which, being in position, opened upon Tyler's troopers and drove 
them rapidly back upon the main column. 

By ten o'clock, when Lyon had thrown out his skirmishers, 
Forrest in person had come up with his escort, took command of 
Lyon's troops, which numbered eight hundred riflemen, and opened 
the famous battle of Brice's Cross-Roads, which took place in Lee 
County, Mississippi, on the lOth of June, 1864. It has passed into 
history as one of the most signal victories of the Civil War, con- 
sidering the forces engaged. On this field General Forrest dis- 
played not only that bull-dog tenacity of purpose which character- 

402 



THE BATTLE OF BRICE'S CROSS-ROADS 



ized his aggressive method of warfare, but his remarkable ability 
as a strategist and those original methods of fighting which then 
won success and have since attracted the closest attention of stu- 
dents of military science. 

The contending forces were : On the Union side, 3200 cavalry 
and 4500 infantry, with 22 pieces of artillery, commanded by 
General Samuel D. Sturgis ; on the Confederate side, 4713 
mounted troops, with 12 pieces of artillery, under General N. 
B. Forrest.* 

At Brice's the main highway, leading from Memphis to Ripley, 
and on in a direction slightly east of south to Fulton, in Missis- 
sippi, intersects almost at a right angle another important road 
leading from Corinth through Rienzi, Booneville, Baldwyn, and in 
a southwesterly direction to Pontotoc. 

With the exception of two or three cleared patches of land, not 
exceeding six acres in extent, immediately around Brice's house, 
the country, which is only slightly undulating, for a mile in every 
direction was at the time of the battle not only heavily timbered, 
but there was an undergrowth of black-jack and scrub-oak so dense 
that in places the troops could with difficulty force their way 
through, and, being then in full leaf, it was possible to approach 
within a few yards with- 
out being seen. About 
one mile northeast of 
Brice's, the Corinth road, 
with a worm - fence on 
either hand for about a 
quarter of a mile, passed 
through a field, to the out- 
skirts of which on all sides 
the dense undergrowth 
extended. This field was enclosed by a heavy rail-fence reinforced 
on top with poles and brushwood. About the same distance on 
the highway leading from Brice's towards Ripley and Memphis the 
road-bed descended some twenty feet into the Tishomingo Creek 




9 ? v 



SCALE OF MILES 



* The artillery companies are not included in this enumeration. These 
would bring the Union strength to about 8000, and the Confederate to 
about 4875. 

403 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

bottom, along which stream there was a large cornfield, at that 
time in cultivation, and here this sluggish stream was spanned by 
a small wooden bridge. 

Grierson, satisfied that the Confederates were in considerable 
strength, dismounted Waring's brigade (1450 strong), which he 
posted behind the fence in the edge of the dense timber, about 
equally divided on the north and south side of the road along 
which Forrest was advancing. Two rifle guns and two howitzers 
were thrown into position on a slight elevation just behind his 
line, and 100 picked men armed with revolving rifles were sent 
forward and concealed in the fence corners of the lane about a 
hundred yards in advance of his main line. 

To the right of Waring was dismounted Grierson's other brigade 
under Winslow (numbering 1750), and the extreme right of this 
portion of the Union line was slightly " refused," or drawn back, 
in the direction of Brice's house. It will be seen that at this criti- 
cal moment (for General Forrest) General Grierson had on the 
field 3200 cavalry, with four pieces of artillery in position and six 
others in reserve, confronted four hundred yards away by 800 
mounted troops of Lyon's brigade, with the escort company of 85 
men, and Gartrell's company, 50 strong, and with no Confederate 
artillery within eight miles. 

Forrest was naturally an offensive fighter. He rarely stood to 
receive an attack. If his troops were mounted and the enemy 
moved first upon him, he always advanced to meet their charge. 
In a memorable interview with a Federal officer he said he would 
"give more for fifteen minutes of bulge on the enemy than for a 
week of tactics." He believed that one man in motion was worth 
two standing to receive an attack. 

When he realized how strong the enemy in his immediate 
front was, his chief anxiety was that they might charge in force 
and run over his small command. Rucker was still two miles in, 
the rear and Johnson was yet behind him. He immediately hac 
Lyon's troops dismounted and thrown into line, and their position' 
behind the fence strengthened by brush and logs. To prevent 
Grierson from attacking, it was important to make a show of force, 
and with characteristic effrontery, having alternate panels of the 
worm-fence thrown down, he ordered Lyon to make a demonstra- 
tion by advancing from the edge of the woods into the open field. 

404 



1 



35 

I 






oVo'x-..-'. ■ 

'// "/< .f -'^ -. ,K -n'' •-;-'* 







600 



JZOCf 



t6i 



SCAL£ 

From T/ie Story of A Cavalry P.egiweiit, by William Forse Scott, witF 
approved by Mr. Scott 
[By permission of G. P. Putnam's Sons] 

MAP OF THE HATTLE-FIELD AT URICE's CROSS-ROADS 



1. Brice's house. 

2. Brice's store. 

3. Bethany Church (then). 

4. Position Winslovv's brigade, awaiting orders. 

5. 6, 7. Waring's line in action, dismounted. 

5. Fourth Missouri Cavalry. 

6. Seventh Indiana Cavalry. 

7. Second New Jersey Cavalry. 

8. Waring's skirmish line, two hundred men of the Third and Ninth 
I Illinois Cavalry. 

I 9. Waring's four howitzers in action. 

i 10. Section Fourteenth Indiana battery, attached to Waring's com- 
mand. 
11,12. Winslow's brigade in action, dismounted. 

11. Third Iowa, three battalions. 

12. Fourth Iowa, two battalions. 

13, 14. Tenth Missouri and Seventh Illinois, two hundred men hold- 
I ing Pontotoc road. 

! 15, 16. Lee's and Joyce's guns (four) of Winslow's brigade in action. 
I' 17, 18. Same guns, last position before retreat. 
I 19, 19. Position of Waring after relieved by infantry. 

20. Last position of Fourth Iowa, two battaHons, near log cabin. 
I 21, 22. Last position of Tenth Missouri and Seventh Illinois. 
I 23-27. Hoge's brigade, first position in action. 
, 23. ()ne Hundred and Thirteenth Illinois. 

> 24. One Hundred and Twentieth Illinois. 

25. One Hundred and Eighth Illinois. 

26. Ninety-fifth Illinois. 

27. Eighty-first Illinois. 

, 28-32. Wilkin's brigade, first position in action. 

28. One Hundred and Fourteenth Illinois. 

29. Ninety-third Indiana. 

30. Ninth Minnesota. 

31. Ninety-fifth Ohio. 

[ 32. Seventy-second Ohio. 

I 3.^. 33- Chapman's battery, four guns, in action. 
I 34. 34- Fitch's battery, four guns, in action. 
I 35. Mueller's two guns in action, in front of log cabin. 
36-41. McMillen's second position. 

36. Ninety-fifth Ohio. 

37. One Hundred and Thirteenth Illinois. 

38. Eighty-first Illinois. 

39. One Hundred and Fourteenth Illinois. 

40. Ninety-third Indiana. 

41. Ninth Minnesota. 
42-45. McMillen's last position. 

42. Seventy-second Ohio. 

43. Ninety fifth Ohio. 

44. Ninety-third Indiana. 

45. Ninth Minnesota. 
46-49. Forrest's line, four brigades. 

46. Johnson's fragment of a brigade, composed of 

Warren's, Moreland's, and Williams's battalions, 
and Koddey's Fourth .Alabama regiment. 

47. Lyon's brigade in order from the Confederate right. 

To their left the Eighth, Seventh, Third, and 
Twelfth Kentucky regiments. (Two companies 
of the Twelfth Kentucky, under Captain H. A. 
Tyler, were on the Confederate left flank.) 

48. Rucker's brigade, Seventh Tennessee regiment, 

Eighteenth Mississippi, and Duffs Nineteenth 
Mississippi. The latter formed the extreme Con- 
federate left. 

49. Bell's brigade from the Confederate right to left. 

Russell's Twentieth Tennessee, Wilson's Six- 
teenth Tennessee, and Newsom's Nineteenth 
Tennessee regiments under D. M. Wisdom. 

50. Forrest's guns. Morton's and Rice's battery, twelve guns. 

51. Led horses of Winslow's brigade. 

52. The train parked here. 

53. Position assigned Winslow's brigade when ordered from the 

field. 

54. Barteau's detachment, two hundred and fifty strong. 

55. Captain H. A. Tyler's two companies. Twelfth Kentucky. 

56. Forrest's escort, two companies under Captains Jackson and 

Gartrell. 



«l 



THE BATTLE OF BRICE'S CROSS-ROADS 

Lyon threw out a double line of skirmishers and marched boldly 
towards the enemy's position. 

That Forrest's advance was "pure bluff " should have been clear 
to Grierson, for Lyon's right just reached the Baldwyn road, while 
his left extended only a little beyond the junction of Waring's 
and Winslow's brigades. He was thus widely overlapped on either 
flank. Major E. Hunn Hanson, of Waring's brigade, says of this 
movement: "The Confederate line advancing was shorter than 
our own, their left ending in front of the left and centre of Wins- 
low's brigade." * 

With artillery and small arms the Union line opened upon the 
Confederates, who kept up their feigned attack for about an hour, 
when they withdrew without confusion to the edge of the woods 
from which they had started, and there resumed their position 
behind the layouts. Major Hanson (above quoted) says : " The 
Confederates retired with but little disorder to the edge of the 
woods and kept up a skirmish fire at long range for some time." 

It was at this moment that Colonel E. W. Rucker, with his 
brigade of 700 mounted men, came on the scene. When within 
two miles of Lyon's position, hearing the cannonade, he put spurs 
to his horse and went rapidly forward with his hardy riders to the 
relief of his chieftain. Forrest at once dismounted the Seventh 
Tennessee regiment and Chalmers's Eighteenth Mississippi bat- 
talion of Rucker's command, placing them in line to the left of 
Lyon's troops, opposing the centre of Winslow's brigade. The 
Eighth Mississippi, under Duff, was kept mounted, and thrown 
well over to the left towards the Guntown road to protect that 
flank of the Confederates from being turned. All told, the Con- 
federates now had on the field 1635 men, with Grierson's division, 
3200 strong, in line of battle opposing them. 

Forrest again ordered his lines forward, with the same purpose 
for which the original attack was made, and after some sharp 
firing, although not at close range, the Confederates again retired. 
Chalmers's battalion, mistaking the object of the movement, had 
advanced too far to the front and received an enfilading fire from 
the. right of Winslow's line, which threw them into confusion, 
but they rallied on the main Confederate line. As the troops 

* Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, vol. iv. p. 420. 
405 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

came back a second time, Colonel W. A. Johnson arrived with 500 
Alabamians, being that portion of his brigade whose horses had 
not given out in the forced march they had just made from 
northern Alabama. These troops Forrest directed to dismount, 
take position on Lyon's right, and move forward to engage the 
attention of the left of the Union line. After some desultory 
fighting, lasting not longer than five minutes, Johnson also re- 
tired. Major Hanson says of this incident : " Later, about three 
hundred Confederates advanced against Waring's extreme left, 
but were easily repulsed." * 

It was now about eleven o'clock, and although Bell's brigade, 
which numbered more than the Confederate troops at the front, 
and the artillery under Morton were not within supporting dis- 
tance, Forrest determined to close in with Grierson in deadly ear- 
nest. He rode hurriedly along his entire line with words of en- 
couragement to his troops, telling them that he expected every 
man to move forward when the signal was given. It was not to be 
a feint, but desperate work, and at close quarters. At the sound 
of the bugle the dismounted troopers sprang from the edge of 
the timber, leaped through the fence, and with a wild yell rushed 
into the open space towards the Union line. Such was their 
eagerness that the commands seemed to vie with each other as to 
which should first reach their antagonists. The men of Waring 
and Winslow seemed imbued with the same desperate purpose, 
for they stood their ground right manfully, their repeating-rifles 
crackling away in deafening roar, first at a distance, and then, as 
the lines came clashing together, into the very faces of the Con- 
federates. 

It fell to the gallant Rucker to make the first impression upon 
the Union position. At the head of the Seventh Tennessee and 
Chalmers's battalion, he swept onward with such impetuosity that 
he carried his part of the line fully one hundred yards in advance 
of Lyon and Johnson. Concentrating his fire on this part of the 
Confederate line, Waring had hoped to check or break it here, 
and when, under the fearful ordeal, it wavered for a moment, he 
sprang forward with two of his regiments to drive it from .the 
field. To make assurance doubly sure, this vigilant of^cer brought 

* Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, vol. iv. p. 420. 
406 



1 



THE BATTLE OF BRICE'S CROSS-ROADS 

up the Second New Jersey and the Seventh Indiana to fill the 
gap made by his counter-charge and to reinforce his line. It was 
a brave and desperate venture, and worthy of the brave Waring. 
But Rucker's men were not to be denied. Stubborn of will and 
apt pupil of his great commander, he had already won the confi- 
dence of his faithful soldiers. As the Union troops rushed for- 
ward, he shouted to his Southerners to draw their six-shooters 
and close with them hand to hand, and in one of the most fiercely 
contested short encounters of the war the Federals were finally 
forced to retire. The desperate character of this attack, and the 
obstinate resistance with which it was met, may be appreciated 
from an account by a participant, in J. P. Young's History of the 
Seventh Tennessee Cavalry: "The Federals occupied a wood on 
the far side of the field behind a rail-fence, greatly strengthened 
with logs and brush piled up against it. It was very hot and sul- 
try when the command was given, and as we approached the fence 
seemed ablaze with crackling breech-loaders. The fire was so ter- 
rific that the regiment staggered for a moment, and some of the 
men fell flat upon the earth for protection. They again pushed 
forward, reached the fence, and began to pull the brush away in 
order to close with the Federals. So close was this struggle that 
guns once fired were not reloaded, but used as clubs, and pistols 
were brought into play, while the two lines struggled with the 
ferocity of wild beasts. Never did men fight more gallantly for 
their position than did the determined men of the North for this 
black-jack thicket on that hot June day. Sergeant John D. 
Huhn, of Company B, being a few feet in advance, came face to 
face with a Federal, presented his gun, and ordered the Union 
soldier to throw his weapon down. Several Federal soldiers 
rushed to the rescue of their comrade. With clubbed guns they 
broke Sergeant Huhn's arm and struck him over the head until 
he fell senseless. Privates Lauderdale and Maclin, of the Sev- 
enth Tennessee, ran to his aid, shot two of his stout-hearted as- 
sailants, and drove the others away with clubbed guns." 

Of these attacks Colonel George E. Waring, Jr., says: "They 
were exceedingly fierce. The first assault was repulsed. The 
second one, after a hand-to-hand fight, was successful, and 
forced back my right, although the whole Second New Jersey 
and the Seventh Indiana were brought into action. After falling 

407 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

back a short distance I succeeded in forming a second line, which 
was held until the infantry came up to relieve my command, the 
men being much fatigued and out of ammunition." '^ 

Of this incident Major E. Hunn Hanson, of the Fourth Mis- 
souri Cavalry (Waring's regiment), says : " The line of the ene- 
my in view did not exceed twenty-five hundred, and was some- 
what shorter than our cavalry in position. They advanced and 
were repulsed, and with little disorder fell back. Again marching 
upon the cavalry, when within fifty yards of Waring's line the 
centre of that command slowly gave way."f 

Forrest had only 2080 men on the field at that moment, and as 
every regiment but one was fighting dismounted, deducting the 
troops left with the horses, he had actually engaged in this fierce 
and successful attack not more than 1700 troops. He had strength- 
ened his centre, and, while the enemy's flanks were strongly as- 
sailed, he had broken through the Union line at this point. Just 
as this was accomplished, Johnson and Lyon, with equal courage, 
had closed in with the left of the Federal forces, while Duff's Mis- 
sissippi regiment, mounted, on the extreme Confederate left, was 
vigorously engaged in holding the attention of the extreme right 
of Grierson's line. As Waring's centre gave way, the gallant W. 
A. Johnson and his Alabamians advanced so rapidly and eagerly 
that he had gained a point fully half-way between his original 
position and the road leading from Ripley to Brice's, along which 
the infantry coming to reinforce Grierson was now advancing. 

Still pushing onward, Rucker, leading this brilliant assault 
mounted, was too fair a target to escape. Several bullets passed 
through his clothing ; his horse, five times wounded, fell at last 
from a mortal shot. His rider received a bullet in the abdomen, 
which, though painful, was fortunately not fatal ; nor did he yield 
his position at the head of his troops until the field was won. 

The Union cavalry was now beaten at all points of the line, 
and by 12.30 Forrest had carried out the first part of his pro- 
gramme — namely, that he would have their cavalry whipped by 
the time the infantry could get up. 

At ten o'clock in the morning, when Forrest came on the field, 



* Official Records, vol. xxxix. part i. p. 132. 
t Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, vol. iv. p. 420. 
408 




THE HAND-TO-HAND STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE TROOPS OF RUCKER AND WARING 



i 



THE BATTLE OF BRICE'S CROSS-ROADS 

he despatched Major Charles W. Anderson, of his staff, towards 
Booneville with the order, " Tell Bell to move up fast and fetch 
all he's got," and for Morton to bring the artillery on at a gallop. 
Nor had he forgotten the famous movement upon the flank and 
rear of his opponent which he always employed, and which in all 
probability was one of the chief factors in his wonderful success. 
He directed peneral A. Buford (his division commander) to take 
Colonel C. R. Barteau's Second Tennessee regiment of Bell's bri- 
gade, when it should have arrived within five miles of the battle- 
field, and to proceed across the country through the woods and 
by-ways until he struck the road over which Sturgis would pass 
from Stubbs's to the cross-roads. Barteau says : " My instruc- 
tions were to take my regiment, numbering then 250 men, across 
the country by out-of-the-way routes, to slip in upon the Federal 
flank and rear, and to attack them in co-operation with Forrest's 
force in front." * 

How well Barteau did his work and what commotion he caused 
in the Union lines will appear in the course of the narrative. 

When the Confederates were first encountered. General Grier- 
son had sent a courier to Sturgis, who was then some six miles 
back, for reinforcements, and this request was repeated with 
greater urgency when Rucker and Johnson came on the field and 
joined hands with Lyon in their desperate onslaught. It was, 
however, not until twelve o'clock that the Union commander in 
person came upon the scene, and more than an hour later when 
the head of the infantry column began to appear. These had 
been urged forward as fast as the condition of the road and the 
extreme heat would permit. 

Colonel Hoge, who led the advance brigad-e of infantry, says : 
" It was impossible to keep up the rapid gait. I received a per- 
emptory order to move forward rapidly, as the enemy was gaining 
ground, and the only thing that would save us was the infantry. 
Three-quarters of a mile from the field I received an order from 
Colonel McMillen in person to move forward at double quick, 
which was done."t Coming upon the scene, Hoge's brigade, the 
One Hundred and Thirteenth, One Hundred and Eighth, Ninety- 

* Diary of Colonel C. R. Barteau, in possession of the author. 
i Official Records, vol. xxxix. part i. p. 119. 

409 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

fifth, and Eighty-first Illinois Infantry, with Battery B of the Sec- 
ond Illinois Artillery (four guns), were immediately thrown into 
line, their battery being placed at Brice's house. 

These reinforcements had not all formed in line before the first 
brigade, under Colonel A. Wilkin, also arrived. The Ninety-fifth 
Ohio, One Hundred and Fourteenth Illinois, Ninety-third Indi- 
ana, and Seventy-second Ohio Infantry were thrown into line at 
points most needed, while Mueller's section of the Sixth Indiana 
battery, reinforced by Chapman's full battery, were posted on an 
eminence in the rear of Brice's house. Battery E, of the First 
Illinois Light Artillery, and the Nineteenth Minnesota Artillery 
were held in reserve at the cross-roads. Thirty-six hundred Union 
infantry, who as yet had not fired a shot, with three batteries of 
artillery additional, had come upon the scene, reinforcing Grier- 
son's division, which Forrest had already beaten, and this entire 
force was confronted by the two thousand Confederates which Gen- 
eral Forrest had at hand. Behind this bulwark of infantry the 
Federal troopers, exhausted and beaten, mounted their horses and 
took refuge, some even quitting the field, as the official records 
show, " without orders." Still back of these, and then in sight, 
was another infantry brigade of colored troops, with artillery 
under Colonel Bouton, held in reserve. 

In crescentic line, and this in some portion of double formation, 
the Federal army now extended from well north of the Baldwyn 
road across to, and some two hundred yards beyond or west of, 
the road from Ripley to Guntown. At this propitious moment 
for the success of Forrest's battle, just as the Federal infantry 
were swinging into line, Morton came up with the artillery, and 
at his heels were Generals Buford and Tyree H. Bell, with the 
latter's full brigade of fresh troops, which within the last six 
months had been recruited within the Union lines in west Ten- 
nessee. The artillery consisted of Morton's and Rice's battery, 
which had travelled eighteen miles since daylight over roads 
so muddy that for much of the distance it was with great diffi- 
culty the horses could drag the pieces along. For the last six 
miles it required the most vigorous urging with whip and spur to 
push them forward in a trot. 

To the right of the road from Baldwyn, as Morton advanced in 
rear of Lyon's position, his batteries were brought into action, 

410 



i 



THE BATTLE OF BRICE'S CROSS-ROADS 

and opened with telling effect. General Sturgis says of this par- 
ticular period of the engagement : " Finding that our troops 
were being hard pressed, I ordered one section to open on the 
enemy's reserve. Their artillery soon replied, and with telling ac- 




curacy, every shell bursting over and in the immediate vicinity 
of our guns."* 

With fatal precision, scarcely excelled by the sharp-shooter 
with his Whitworth, globe-sighted rifle. Captain John W. Morton, 
the famous young artillerist who had celebrated his twenty-first 
birthday on the bloody field of Chickamauga, with clear eye and 
steady heart was sending his shells with deadly purpose right to 
the spot. 

Placing Buford in command of the right wing, where Johnson 
and Lyon were operating, Forrest, with Bell's troops, moved to 
the Confederate left and dismounted to the left of Rucker, ex- 



* Official Records, vol. xxxix. part i. p. 92. 
411 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

tending his now strengthened line westward of the road leading 
from Brice's to Guntown. 

Still farther to the Confederate left, mounted and guarding 
that wing, and ready to swoop around and upon the Union flank 
and rear, were two companies of Kentuckians, upon which, under 
their dashing leader, Captain H. A. Tyler, Forrest knew he could 
rely for most desperate work when the occasion offered. The 
other mounted companies, his famous escort, under Captain Jack- 
son, and Gartrell's Georgians, on headquarters duty with Forrest, 
were kept immediately with the general. 

The two opposing armies now faced each other for the supreme ef- 
fort. About eight thousand Federal soldiers, with twenty-two pieces 
of artillery, confronted Forrest, who, with an audacity born of su- 
preme confidence in his men as well as in himself, moved forward 
to attack them. As most of the Confederates fought dismounted, 
deducting those left with the horses in the rear, the Confederate 
commander could not have carried into action in this desperate 
encounter over thirty-three hundred troops, with twelve pieces of 
artillery — a proportion of less than one to two. 

For some thirty minutes the sounds of war had ceased. A rifle 
here and there from some sharp-shooter or venturesome skir- 
misher spoke out in vicious challenge, but the wild fusillade and 
the crackle and roar of hundreds and thousands of guns no longer 
swept to and fro along the double rainbow of men in deadly earnest 
for the undoing of each other. It was the calm before the storm — 
the ominous silence which precedes the cloud-burst and the angry 
onslaught of the winds. The atmosphere was heavy with humid- 
ity, the day depressing and intensely hot. Not a cloud was in 
the sky to shield friend or foe from the burning rays of the sun. 
Nothing but the thick foliage intervened, and this was motionless, 
for not a breath of air was stirring. Forrest, in apt phraseology, 
more forcible than elegant, had measured the heat when he said 
to Rucker that morning, in his forecast of the fight and of the day, 
" It is going to be as hot as hell." The troops, and animals as 
well, in both contending armies had suffered extremely, and a 
goodly number had fallen from exhaustion and sunstroke. 

On the Union side, Grierson's cavalry had been fighting stead- 
ily from ten until two, and fighting is terribly exhausting work. 
They had been roughly handled to boot, and had a right to be 

412 



THE BATTLE OF BRICE'S CROSS-ROADS 

wearied and worried. On the Confederate side, Johnson's, Ruck- 
er's, and Lyon's men, who had " knocked out " Waring's and Wins- 
low's brigades, were equally fatigued. Bell's famous brigade, which 
had just arrived, had travelled twenty -five miles to reach the 
battle-field, and for the last fourth of the journey their horses had 
been urged to the full limit of their endurance and speed. The 
Union infantry had also suffered much — in fact, more than any of 
the troops upon the field. They had marched nine miles since 
seven o'clock, and under the urgent appeals of Grierson and 
Sturgis the last three miles had been made at a trot, and the final 
mile at a double-quick. 

Forrest was fully alive to the conditions which, in spite of his 
numerical weakness, favored him. He had no thought of giving 
his enemy an opportunity to " catch their wind." He had in- 
formed Buford that everything was ready on the left, and that he 
must push his end of the line (the right) and engage as much as 
possible the attention of the enemy in that direction. He added 
that they were massing in front of him, and that their left would 
not offer as much resistance as he and Bell would encounter. 
Johnson, on the extreme right of the Confederate line, was urged 
to crowd in as closely as possible on the road leading from Ripley 
to Brice's. 

The two Federal brigades of infantry under Hoge and Wilkins 
had scarcely effected their alignment when over to their left the 
rifles of Johnson and Rucker told them the fight had reopened, 
and at this moment everything in the Confederate line of battle 
moved to the front. There was now no open country except a 
few acres immediately about Brice's house. Through the thick 
and almost impenetrable undergrowth, just where Hoge had 
formed his sturdy Westerners in double array, both ranks lying 
prone upon the ground for congealment as well as protection, there 
came with guns trailing and bodies bent as close to the earth as 
possible the rustling sound of a moving body of men among the 
foliage as with difficulty they pushed their way forward. These 
were the Tennesseeans, as stanch and brave a set of men as ever 
served in war, under Tyree H. Bell, the Bliicher of this hard-fought 
field. When within only a few paces of the Federal line, which as 
yet they could not see, the rifles of Hoge's infantry burst forth, a 
withering flash and murderous roar into the very faces of the Con- 

413 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

federates. Under this fierce and sudden fire, which inflicted seri- 
ous loss, a part of Bell's men gave way. Taking quick advantage 
of the momentary confusion he had caused, Hoge, with great gal- 
lantry, believing that the entire line of the enemy would yield if 
a general advance was made, ordered his whole force forward, di- 
recting his attack principally on the right of Bell and the left of 
Rucker's position. 

Forrest, knowing the heavy fighting would be just at this point, 
had remained with the troops, and, seeing the disaster which now 
threatened him, dismounted from his horse, called to his two es- 
cort companies to dismount and hitch their horses to the bushes, 
and with these daring fighters gathered about him he rushed into 
the thickest of the fray, pistol in hand, to take his place in the 
front rank with his men. With equal dash and courage. Bell did 
the same ; and with such examples and under such leadership the 
Tennesseeans quickly rallied, and, being reinforced by Lieutenant- 
Colonel D. M. Wisdom, who with 280 men of Newsom's regiment 
had been held in reserve behind this portion of the line, they 
checked the retreat and advanced again upon the enemy. Ar- 
rested in front of Bell, the Federal infantry pushed on in gallant 
style against the thinner line of Rucker; but this sturdy fighter 
had no notion of yielding the position he had won after such 
a fierce struggle. He knew from the way the rifles were crack- 
ling on his left that Forrest was hard at work there and was hold- 
ing his own. As the Federal infantry came on with bayonets 
fixed, Rucker shouted, " Kneel on the ground, men, draw your 
six-shooters, and don't run !" Against this plucky wall the on-rush- 
ing Federals struck hard, but rebounded. They could not break 
through it, and in fierce and bloody hand-to-hand combat the 
bayonet was no match for the repeating- pistol, and the Union 
troops gave way as the whole Confederate line rushed forward 
with irresistible force. 

As the centre of Hoge's line crumbled away in this terrific on- 
slaught, Johnson, with Lyon's prompt aid, had pushed back the 
extreme left of McMillen's line until it was now doubled back 
upon the Ripley road. At this important juncture Forrest re- 
ceived a message from the ever-watchful Buford, which was inval- 
uable to him. From the open position occupied by this ofificer on 
the extreme right, he had observed a sudden movement of the 

414 



I 




CHARGE OF THE ARTILLERY UNDER CAPTAIN MORTON 



THE BATTLE OF BRICE'S CROSS-ROARDS 

Union cavalry from near Brice's house to the rear, and could now 
distinguish musketry off to his right in the direction of Tishomingo 
Creek. Barteau was there with the Second Tennessee. He had 
arrived just in the nick of time and had struck the rear and flank 
of Sturgis's column. The brilliant strategy of Forrest was now 
to prove its value in deciding the fate of the Union army. Of 
this moment Colonel Barteau says : " I succeeded in reaching 
the Federal rear just as the fighting seemed heaviest in front. I 
at once deployed my men in a long line, had my bugler ride up 
and down sounding the charge at different points, and kept up 
as big a show as I could and a vigorous fire upon the Federals 
until their complete route was evident. I was in the flank and 
rear of their position when Waring's and Winslow's brigades 
came back." * 

This brilliant movement, executed with vigor and precision, had, 
at this crisis of the battle, not only thrown the reserve brigade of 
infantry and the train-guard into commotion, but had withdrawn 
from Forrest's immediate front practically all of Grierson's cavalry 
that could offer him effectual resistance. 

Forrest's perception told him that the crisis of the day had 
come, and that now the battle must be won or lost. It was past 
four o'clock. How swiftly and unheeded is the flight of time 
when the storm of battle is raging ! For more than two hours 
these desperate men of either army had been in murderous 
strife at close range since Bell and Morton had arrived. With 
savage fierceness, against heavy odds, Forrest's men had fought, 
and it seemed that the extreme of human endurance had been 
reached. 

Riding along the rear of the line, encouraging his troops by 
telling them that the enemy were giving way, that their rear was 
attacked by Barteau, and that only one supreme effort was neces- 
sary to sweep them from the field, he hastened to the position of 
Morton with the artillery, upon whom at this moment he greatly 
depended. As he rode up to Morton, whose guns were then in 
action, the position being one at close range to the enemy and of 
great exposure, the artillerist ventured to say to his general that 
it was too dangerous a place for him, and suggested that he 

* Manuscripts in possession of the author. 
415 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

should go to the rear a short distance, where it was safer. He 
noticed that Forrest was much exhausted, and was surprised that 
he yielded to the advice of his subordinate. Riding back some 
thirty or forty yards, he called Morton to him as he laid himself 
upon the ground at the root of a big tree. Here he said to the ar- 
tillerist that he believed he had the enemy beaten, and that while 
they were still holding on with considerable stubbornness near 
the cross-roads, he felt convinced that one more vigorous charge 
along the whole line, in which the artillery should take an active 
part, would be successful. He said that he would order this 
charge within ten minutes, and directed him to take four guns, 
double-shotted with canister, and, as soon as the bugler sounded 
the charge, to hitch the horses to them, gallop forward as close as 
possible to the enemy, and open upon them at close range. The 
signal for Morton was the heavy firing on the right. Forrest then 
rode farther over to the right to give Buford his final instructions. 
General Buford said that when Forrest told him what part Mor- 
ton was to play he suggested that it would be dangerous to send 
the guns forward without any support ; but Forrest replied, " Bu- 
ford, all the Yankees in front of us cannot get to Morton's guns." 
After the battle and pursuit were over, and two days later when 
the artillerist was returning with his pets, Forrest rode up to him, 
laid his hand on his shoulder, and said, " Well, John, I think 
your guns won the battle for us." Flushing with pride at this 
great praise from the man he idolized, Morton said, " General, I 
am glad you think so much of our work, but you scared me pretty 
badly when you pushed me up so close to their infantry and left 
me without protection. I was afraid they might take my guns." 
To this Forrest replied as he rode away, " Well, artillery is made 
to be captured, and I wanted to see them take yours." 

Hurrying back to Bell, he ordered Tyler, with his two compa- 
nies of Kentuckians, Captain Jackson, of the escort, and Captain 
Johnson, with Gartrell's Georgians, that when the firing became 
general along the line they must charge around the Federal right 
flank and into their rear, rush in and engage at pistol-range any 
Federal troops between their right and the Tishomingo Creek 
bridge. 

Forrest's famous tactics were now to be demonstrated — namely, 
the fierce onslaught from the front, with a charge upon both flanks 

416 




\^t 






CAPTAIN JOHN C. JACKSON 

Forrest's Escort 

(From a photograph taken after the war) 



THE BATTLE OF BRICE'S CROSS-ROADS 

and in the enemy's rear by a few well-chosen and desperate horse- 
men. As Gaus's bugle sounded the charge, Buford and Lyon and 
Johnson went forward with the right of the Confederate line, in 
face of a tremendous discharge of small arms and artillery, and 
amid the wild yells of the successful Confederates the Federal 
line gave way stubbornly for a little space, and then yielded in 
disorder. Morton, with his horses hitched to the guns, swept for- 
ward along the country road, so narrow that only four pieces could 
be employed, with such boldness that in all probability the Fed- 
eral commander at this point felt he was heavily supported, and 
when within short range of the centre and right of the Union line 
he made his double-shotted canister tell on their ranks with fright- 
ful effect. Rucker's final charge on the centre and Bell's quick 
rush to the left carried away the last vestige of organization on the 
part of the Federals, and their line was at last irreparably broken. 

Colonel McMillen, commanding the infantry, says: "As the 
enemy on our right were being driven back by the Ninth Minne- 
sota and Ninety-third Indiana, I directed Captain Fitch to put 
one section of his artillery into position on the Guntown road 
and sweep it with grape and canister. Soon after the left and left- 
centre gave back in considerable confusion, the rebels (Johnson 
and Lyon) following them in force up to the road over which we 
had advanced, and from which they were kept by the Seventy- 
second Ohio and Mueller's battery. I endeavored to rally the 
different regiments and get them to advance to their original posi- 
tion, but failed, I sent word to General Sturgis I was hard pressed, 
and unless relieved I would be obliged to abandon my position. 
I was informed that he had nothing to send me. I therefore de- 
termined to retire and form another line a short distance in the 
rear, to keep the enemy from the cross-roads until the artillery 
could be moved." 

As the Federals retired. Lieutenants Haller and Mayson, under 
orders from Morton, pushed their guns still farther by hand along 
the narrow roadway to the front, and firing as they advanced. 
Coincident with this, Buford, Lyon^ and Rucker closed in from 
all directions upon the Union forces, now in confusion, crowding 
them to the cross-roads at Brice's house, where three pieces of ar- 
tillery were captured and turned upon the fleeing enemy. 

General Sturgis, referring to this period of the engagement, 

2D 417 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

says : " I now endeavored to get hold of the colored brigade which 
formed the guard of the wagon-train. While traversing the short 
distance to where the head of that brigade should be found, the 
main line began to give way at various points. Order soon gave 
way to confusion, and confusion to panic. . . . The army drifted 
towards the rear and was beyond control. The road became 
crowded and jammed with troops, wagons and artillery sank into 
the deep mud and became inextricable. No power could check 
the panic-stricken mass as it swept towards the rear." 

The panic of the troops was not without effect upon the Union 
commander. Colonel D. C. Thomas testifies that General Sturgis 
at this period in the fight proposed to save himself by taking the 
Nineteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry as an escort, to turn off into 
some by-way and make his escape.* 

About one-quarter of a mile north of the cross-roads, where 
the Fourth Iowa Cavalry of Winslow's brigade had dismounted, 
sent their horses across Tishomingo Creek, and were making a 
final and desperate stand, Colonel McMillen endeavored to stem 
the current of disaster by throwing the Fifty-fifth Colored Infan- 
try across the line of retreat. The Fifty-ninth Colored Infan- 
try and Lamberg's section of artillery were placed somewhat 
in rear of them, and for the same purpose ; but the on-sweeping 
tide of the Confederates was running high and could not be 
withstood. The brave General Buford, with boldness and abil- 
ity, had pushed Johnson's Alabamians so far forward on the ex- 
treme Confederate right that they struck the flank of Bouton's 
Africans from the direction of Tishomingo Creek ; and at the 
same moment, upon the extreme left of the Confederate line, 
the troopers of Forrest's escort, under Jackson and Gartrell, with 
Tyler's two Kentucky companies mounted, with dare-devil reck- 
lessness swept around the right of the Federal line and rode 
squarely into the colored infantry with their six-shooters just as 
Johnson's troops came in range and opened upon them from the 
other side. To add to their discomfiture, Morton and Rice, push- 
ing their guns by hand, were crowding along the main road from 
Brice's to the bridge, and now, within gunshot range, rattled away 
with their charges double shotted with canister. 

* Official Records, vol. xxxix. part i. p. 171. 
418 



1 









—;——"■■— -^ 






^^■k 


^ 


f\ 


^ '^'^1 


m 


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1 



THE BATTLE OF BRICE'S CROSS-ROADS 

Nothing could surpass the desperate earnestness of these heroic 
men, who stood to their work throughout this hot and depressing 
day. Suffering so intensely with thirst, they drank the blackened, 
powder-stained water from the sponge-buckets, which was being 
used to cleanse and cool the guns, rather than send one needed 
man away. Even some of the wounded refused to go to the 
rear.* 

McMillen's forlorn hope was demolished so quickly that he 
scarcely checked the onward rush of Forrest's men. 

Rearward of this position, across the sluggish Tishomingo 
Creek, there was a narrow wooden bridge, which had become 
hopelessly blocked by the overturning of a wagon and the im- 
paction behind this of several other vehicles. On to this bridge, 
clambering over the wreckage of wagons and the fallen horses 
struggling to free themselves, mad with fright, the fugitives 
rushed pell-mell, the soldiers pushing each other off into the 
stream on either side in their wild efforts to escape. Others, see- 
ing the hopelessness of attempting to cross by the bridge, threw 
themselves into the creek, and waded or swam across, while many 
were drowned or shot as they were floundering in the water. 

The Union loss was fearful. Reaching the creek, the Confeder- 
ates cleared the bridge by pushing the wagons and the dead or 
wounded animals into the stream. 

Meanwhile a detachment of Forrest's escort under Lieutenant 
George L. Cowan had effected a crossing about a quarter of a 
mile below the bridge, and, sweeping around upon the flank of the 
enemy, charged boldly in among the panic-stricken crowd of fugi- 
tives, and cut off and captured a large number of prisoners and 
some wagons. So far was Cowan within the Federal lines that he 
came in range of Morton's relentless guns, and it was only when 
the battle-flag of the escort was waved that he was recognized 
and the firing in that direction ceased. 

The sun was now just above the western horizon, but Forrest 
had no idea of calling off the chase. The men who had been de- 
tailed as horse-holders, and were therefore comparatively fresh, 

* James Moran, a mere lad, who was badly wounded, when told by Cap- 
tain Morton to go to the hospital, replied : " Captain, I don't want to go ; I 
can stand it until we run 'em away." 

419 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

were hurried to the front, and under the personal leadership of 
Forrest and Buford went forward upon the heels of the beaten 
army. Two miles from the battle-field McMillen succeeded in 
rallying a portion of the first and second brigades under the com- 
mand of the brave Colonel A. Wilkin, who later fell on the bloody 
field of Harrisburg. This line, however, could not stand longer 
than to permit Bouton to pass through with his Africans, for 
Morton came upon the scene with two of his pieces, and after a 
single round the Federals vanished. From this point on resist- 
ance practically ceased. 

Of the result of the fighting until after twelve o'clock Colonel 
Waring says : " It was seen at half-past twelve that our ammu- 
nition was reduced to five rounds per man ; and when our bat- 
tery had fired its last shot the infantry began to arrive, and then 
they came a regiment at a time, or only so fast as the Forrest 
mill could grind them up in detail. Little by little the enemy 
pressed upon us, gaining rod after rod of our position, until finally 
our last arriving troops, a splendid colored regiment, reached the 
field of battle at double quick, breathless and beaten by their own 
speed, barely in time to check the assault until we could cross 
the creek and move towards the rear. The retreat was but fairly 
begun when we came upon our train of two hundred wagons piled 
pell-mell in a small field and blocked in beyond the possibility of 
removal. The train was our tub to the whale ; and while For- 
rest's men were sacking our treasures we had time to form for the 
retreat, more or less orderly according as we had come early or 
late upon the field."* 

Major E. H. Hanson reports: "All through the night the 
beaten army kept on their way, reaching Ripley, twenty-two miles 
from the battle-field, on the morning of June nth. During the 
retreat the enemy captured fourteen pieces of artillery, our entire 
train of two hundred and fifty wagons loaded with ammunition and 
ten days' rations. At Ripley an attempt was made to reorganize 
our troops into companies and regiments, but the enemy ap- 
peared on two sides before this could be accomplished, and we 
were only able to check them until the retreat could be resumed. 
It continued in this way to Collierville, Tennessee. The bitter 

* Whip and Spur. 
420 




RETREAT OK THE FEDERALS ACROSS TISHOMINGO CUEEK 



f 



I 



THE BATTLE OF BRICE'S CROSS-ROADS 

humiliation of this disaster rankles after a quarter of a century. 
The enemy may have numbered three thousand five hundred or 
four thousand, but it must be reluctantly confessed that not more 
than this number is believed to have been in action. If there was, 
during the war, another engagement like this, it is unknown to 
the writer ; and in its immediate results there was no success, 
among the many won by Forrest, comparable to that of Gun- 
town."* 

An amusing incident of the flight of Sturgis's command is given 
by Colonel George E. Waring, Jr., who says : " Grierson ordered 
me to prevent the pushing ahead of the stragglers of the other bri- 
gades, who were to be recognized, he reminded me, by their wear- 
ing hats (mine wore caps). The order was peremptory, and was 
to be enforced at the cost of cutting the offenders down. We 
were all sleeping more or less of the time, but constantly some 
hatted straggler was detected pushing towards the front, and or- 
dered back. Close to my right, and pushing slowly to the front, 
came a gray horse with a hatted rider, an India-rubber poncho 
covering his uniform. I ordered him back, and the adjutant, 
eager for the enforcement of the order, remonstrated at the man's 
disobedience. I ordered him again, but without result. The ad- 
jutant ejaculated, ' Damn him, cut him down !' I drew my sabre, 
and laid its flat, in one long stinging welt, across that black pon- 
cho. * I Who are you hitting ?' Then we both remembered 

that Grierson, too, wore a hat, and I tender him here my public 
acknowledgment of his good-nature and generous silence." f 

Forrest's men, who had done the fighting on foot, were allowed 
to rest until one o'clock, while the horse-holders kept hammering 
away at the fleeing enemy, to give them no respite. At 3 A.M. 
Buford in force came upon their rear in the Hatchie bottoms, and 
here the balance of the wagon-train and fourteen pieces of artil- 
lery additional fell into the hands of the gallant Kentuckian. 
Four miles from Ripley, Grierson had rallied a forlorn hope, but, 
with the escort and the Seventh Tennessee alone, Forrest, lead- 
ing the charge in person, attacked them, and after a feeble re- 
sistance scattered them "like chaff before the winds." 

* Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, vol. iv. 
t Whip and Spur. 

421 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

All through the day and until nightfall on the nth the pursuit 
was continued, and only closed when, near Salem, in sight of the 
home of his youth, Forrest, completely exhausted, was seized with 
a fainting-spell, fell from his horse, and remained unconscious for 
nearly an hour, to the great alarm of his devoted followers. 

The battle at Brice's Cross-Roads demonstrated the truth of the 
adage that " the battle is not to the strong." The Federals were 
not defeated for lack of courage, as the fighting qualities of these 
men, when properly handled, was in a succeeding engagement fully 
proven. 

From ten until four, beneath the fierce heat of a Southern sun, 
the men of Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, and Tennessee had 
struggled in desperate and often hand-to-hand conflict with the 
sturdy soldiers of Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, and New 
Jersey ; and while there can be no doubt that great credit was 
due to the splendid fighting qualities of the men under Forrest, 
and to his officers, as determined and courageous as himself, noth- 
ing on that day, and against such odds, could have saved his army 
from defeat and destruction but the marvellous genius of the " un- 
lettered soldier." 

He had fought on the field a body of veteran troops which 
greatly outnumbered him, and, withal, advantageously posted, as 
he had been the assailant from the beginning. To reach the bat- 
tle-field the Federals had only nine miles to march ; the greater 
portion of Forrest's command had covered twenty-five miles, and 
his artillery had made eighteen miles before they came into ac- 
tion. The vigorous and tireless pursuit was as wonderful as the 
victory on the field. It seems almost incredible that men could 
have endured what this little army of Forrest's endured on those 
two days of June. 

The artillery of Morton and Rice had started from Booneville 
at 5 A.M. on the loth, had marched eighteen miles, and then for 
five hours had been engaged without intermission in desperate 
conflict ; had followed the enemy from the field until well into the 
night, and, after seven hours of rest, pushed onward, keeping up 
with, and at times even in front of, the advance-guard of Forrest's 
cavalry; had reached Salem on the night of the nth, making 
sixty -one miles in thirty -eight hours, besides fighting for five 
hours of that time, a record possibly without a parallel in artillery 

42? 



LOSSES AT BRICE'S CROSS-ROADS 

fighting. So energetic had been Morton's pursuit that fifteen 
horses fell dead in harness from exhaustion. 

Bell's brigade, at 4 A.M. on the loth, had left Rienzi, marched 
twenty -five miles to the battle-field, fought from 2 p.m. until 
5 P.M., pursued the enemy from the field until 7, and at 8 P.M. 
on the night of the nth camped at Davis's Mill, twelve miles 
north of Salem, having made eighty miles in forty hours. 

No wonder the army of Sturgis had melted away in a wild 
stampede, until it was every one for himself. Few escaped, ex- 
cepting those who had horses, or who cut them loose from the 
wagons and the artillery. The infantry suffered most heavily in 
killed and captured, while the colored troops, believing that no 
quarter would be shown them, scattered in all directions, taking 
to the woods and bottoms for safety. On the morning of the 
I ith, at Ripley, General Sturgis writes : " Nothing was left but to 
keep in motion." On the 12th he was at Collierville, after a run 
of forty-eight hours with scarcely a halt, and on the 13th, at 9 
A.M., a fragment of his fleeing command was at White's station. 
It had taken his army nine days to march from this point to 
Brice's Cross -Roads. The return trip was made in sixty -four 
hours. 

General Washburn says : " The expedition left the railroad ter- 
minus on June 1st, and reached Brice's Cross-Roads on June loth. 
The force that escaped returned to this point in one day and two 
nights." 

The Confederates lost heavily in killed and wounded. The re- 
port of the chief surgeon, Dr. J. B. Cowan, gives 493 killed and 
wounded. In Rucker's brigade the loss was twenty-three per 
cent., and in Lyon's command over twenty per cent, were killed 
and wounded. 

General Sturgis, in his ofificial report, made on the 24th of June, 
gave his loss of killed, wounded, and missing, as 2240. The de- 
tailed reports of his brigade and regimental commanders show his 
loss to have been 2612. 

General Forrest captured 250 wagons and ambulances, 18 pieces 
of artillery, 5000 stands of small arms, and 500,000 rounds of. 
small-arm ammunition, and all the enemy's baggage and supplies. 

That the Federals threw away everything which would impede 
their flight is evident from the reports of the subordinate officers. 

423 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

Colonel George B. Hoge gives the original strength of his bri- 
gade at 1674, of which 748 were killed, wounded, and missing.* Of 
the remaining 926 who escaped, only 267 had not thrown away 
their guns ! Wilkins's regimental commanders report 1003 lost 
in the second brigade. The Ninth Minnesota lost 287 out of 
665. Bouton's colored regiments lost 528 out of a total of 1200. 
Waring's cavalry brigade lost 207, and Winslow's 126. Total 
Federal loss, 2612. 

In his ofificial report General Sturgis says : " I need hardly add 
that it was with feelings of the most profound pain and regret 
that I found myself called upon to record a defeat and the loss 
and suffering incident to a reverse. Yet there is some consola- 
tion in knowing that the army fought nobly while it did fight, 
and only yielded to overwhelming numbers. The strength of the 
enemy is estimated by the most intelligent officers as fifteen to 
twenty thousand men." f He adds : " A very intelligent sergeant 
who was captured says the enemy had actually engaged 12,000 
men, and had two divisions of infantry in reserve." 

The overthrow of Sturgis caused scarcely less anxiety at the 
headquarters of Generals Grant and Sherman, and at Washington, 
than was felt by General Washburn at Memphis. Grant says, in 
his Memoirs : " Farther west, also, the troubles were threatening. 
Some time before, Forrest had met Sturgis, in command of some 
cavalry in Mississippi, and handled him very roughly, gaining 
a great victory over him. This left Forrest free to go almost 
where he pleased, and to cut the roads in rear of Sherman, who 
was then advancing. Sherman was abundantly able to look after 
the army that he had immediately with him, and all of his military 
division, so long as he could communicate with it, but it was my 
place to see that he had the means with which to hold his rear. 
Two divisions, under A. J. Smith, had been sent to Louisiana 
some months before. Sherman ordered these back, with direc- 
tions to attack Forrest." % 

General Sherman, who on the 23d of May addressed the gov 
ernors of Missouri, Indiana, Iowa, and Wisconsin, calling for m 
tia to be sent to Memphis to co-operate with him in preventing 

* Official Records, vol. xxxix. part i. p. 120. t Ibid. p. 95. 

X Memoirs of U. S. Grant, vol. ii. p. 306. 

424 



3V I 
ili- 



FEDERAL REPORTS OF THE BATTLE 

Forrest and Lee from swinging over against his communications * 
was now more than ever upset. The anxiety which he felt is 
shown in a despatch to General Thomas, dated June 9th, which 
says: "I cannot hear of Forrest, though I believe the expedition 
which left Memphis June ist, composed of three thousand cavalry 
and five thousand infantry, will give him good employment." 
Again, on the 13th, to Halleck, he insists that "there are troops 
enough in Tennessee to watch Forrest, should he make his ap- 
pearance there, as Johnston doubtless calculates." 

Stanton, Secretary of War, on June 14th telegraphed General 
Sherman that he had just received the report of the battle be- 
tween Sturgis and Forrest, " in which our forces were defeated 
with great loss. Washburn estimates our loss at not less than 
three thousand. Forrest is in pursuit." f 

Sherman replied that he had just received the same news of 
the defeat of Sturgis, " whose chief object was to hold Forrest 
there to keep him off our road. Of course it is to be deplored, 
but we must prepare for all contingencies. I have ordered A. J. 
Smith not to go to Mobile, but to go to Memphis and to defeat 
Forrest at all cost. Forrest has only his cavalry ; I cannot un- 
derstand how he could defeat Sturgis with eight thousand men." 
On the 15th he adds to Stanton: "I will have the matter of 
Sturgis critically examined, and if he should be at fault he shall 
have no mercy at my hands. I cannot but believe he had troops 
enough. I know I would have been willing to attempt the same 
task with that force ; but Forrest is the devil, and I think he has 
got some of our troops under cower. I have two officers at Mem- 
phis who will fight all the time — A. J. Smith and Mower. The 
latter is a young brigadier of fine promise, and I commend him to 
your notice. I will order them to make up a force and go out to 
follow Forrest to the death, if it costs ten thousand lives and breaks 
the Treasury. There never will be peace in Tennessee until For- 
rest is dead !" And with an evident air of satisfaction this bloody- 
minded warrior closes this despatch by saying : " We killed Bishop 
Polk yesterday and have made good progress to-day." ^ 

The disturbance of the various plans of campaign which were 
then in operation as the result of this victory of Forrest's is further 

* Official Records, vol. xxxviii. part iv. t Ibid. p. 474. \ Ibid. p. 480. 

425 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

shown from General McPherson's despatch to General Dodge on 
the 15th of June, saying that, on account of the defeat of Sturgis 
by Forrest, Colonel Howe would remain at Decatur with his bri- 
gade until further orders. 

Sherman, on the i6th of June, despatched Stanton that he 
would send as large a force as he could get on Forrest's trail and 
harass him and the counties through which he passed. " We 
must destroy him if possible." On the 20th of this month he 
telegraphed to Rousseau, at Nashville, that he had determined 
to wait to see what Forrest would do, adding : " I propose to 
keep him occupied from Memphis. He whipped Sturgis fair and 
square, and now I have got against him A. J. Smith and Mower, 
and will let them try their hands." 

At the close of this campaign, on the 28th of June, General For- 
rest issued an address to his soldiers, recapitulating their achieve- 
ments in the defeat of William Sooy Smith, the successful expe- 
dition into west Tennessee, with the capture of Union City and 
Fort Pillow, and the overthrow of Sturgis's command at Tisho- 
mingo Creek. While these were triumphs of which any general 
might well feel a great and just pride, between the lines of this 
eloquent address one can recognize the cleverness of the diplo- 
matist. Lauding to the skies their past performances, this skil- 
ful leader of men no doubt intended to stimulate his soldiers to 
further effort under his command. It has a touch of the old-fash- 
ioned Fourth-of-July oratory which was in vogue in the Southern 
States in the period preceding the Civil War. General Forrest 
was remarkable for his ready command of language. This ad- 
dress, as well as all of his reports and addresses, was dictated by 
him to Major Charles W. Anderson, or some other member of his 
staff. Major Anderson states that often after the first draft of a 
report or address was made it would be read over to the general, 
who, although a man of limited education, would not only quickly 
detect a grammatical error, but would criticise and correct a phrase 
improperly constructed. His usual remark was, " That hasn't 
got the right pitch." 

" Headquarters Forrest's Cavalry, 
"Tupelo, Mississippi, y««(? 28, 1864. 

" Soldiers, — After a long and laborious campaign, the major-general com- 
manding deems it an appropriate occasion to address you a few words of 

426 



K 



A STIRRING ADDRESS 

recapitulation, acknowledgment, and congratulation. About the 15th of 
February last the campaign which so gloriously terminated at Tishomingo 
Creek was inaugurated. Major -General Sherman, with a large and well 
appointed army, undertook to penetrate the central counties of Alabama 
and Mississippi. His object was avowedly to capture Selma and Mobile, 
and to desolate that productive region of country from which the granaries 
of a large section of the Confederacy were supplied. Generals Smith and 
Grierson had their duties assigned them, and were to act a conspicuous part 
in the work of spoliation and piracy. With a large co-operating cavalry 
force, thoroughly armed and equipped, they were to descend through north- 
ern Mississippi, carrying fire and sword with them. On they came like a 
blighting sirocco. At West Point you met them. There you threw your- 
selves across the rich prairies, a living bulwark, to stay the desolating tide. 
Compared with the enemy, you were but few in numbers, but every man be- 
came a hero, for all seemed impressed with the importance of the momen- 
tous struggle. You proved yourselves equal to the expectations of the coun- 
try. You met the proud and exultant enemy. The result is known to the 
world ; you drove him howling back in ignominy and shame, broken and 
demoralized. Sherman's campaign was thus brought to an abrupt conclu- 
sion, and Mississippi and Alabama saved. The victory was a glorious one, 
and with heartfelt pride the general commanding acknowledges your un- 
exampled gallantry. This great work was accomplished by Colonel Bell's 
brigade, commanded by Colonel Barteau, Colonel McCulloch's and Colonel 
Forrest's brigades. But great as was this victory, it is not without its alloy. 
The laurel is closely entwined with the cypress, and the lustre of a brilliant 
triumph is darkened by the blood with which it was purchased. It was here 
that Colonel Barksdale gave up his life, a willing sacrifice, upon the altar of 
his country. He fell in front of the battle, gallantly discharging his duty. 
He sleeps, but his name is imperishable. Here, too, fell the noble brother 
of the general commanding, Colonel Jeffrey E. Forrest. He was a brave 
and chivalrous spirit, ever foremost in the fight. He fell in the flower of 
his youth and 'usefulness, but his dying gaze was proudly turned upon the 
victorious field which his own valor had aided in winning. Peace to the 
ashes of these gallant young heroes. 

" After a short repose you were called to a new theatre of action. By long 
and rapid marches, which you endured without murmur or complaint, you 
found yourselves upon the waters of the Ohio, sweeping the enemy before 
you wherever you met him, capturing hundreds of prisoners, valuable and 
needed stores in the quartermaster's and ordnance departments, while se- 
curing for yourselves a character for endurance, valor, and efficiency which 
might well excite the envy of the most famous legions in military history. 
At Fort Pillow you exhibited the same conspicuous gallantry. In the face 
of a murderous fire from two gunboats and six pieces of artillery on the 
fort, you stormed the works and either killed or captured the entire garri- 
son, a motley herd of negroes, traitors, and Yankees. This noble work was 

427 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B: FORREST 

accomplished by parts of Chalmers's and Buford's divisions, composed of 
Bell's and McCulloch's brigades, commanded by Brigadier -General Chal- 
mers ; and for his gallantry on this and other occasions General Chalmers 
deserves the enduring gratitude of his countrymen. For the exhibitions of 
high soldiery bearing on these fields you have earned from your country and 
its government the most grateful and well-deserved plaudits. Congress has 
voted you complimentary resolutions of thanks and tendered you a nation's 
homage. 

" But the crowning glory of your great deeds has yet to be named. Tish- 
omingo Creek is the brightest leaf in your chaplet of laurel. General Grier- 
son, not satisfied with his test of your prowess, united with General Sturgis, 
at the head of one of the best-appointed forces ever equipped by the Yankee 
nation — complete in infantry, cavalry, artillery, and supply-trains. They 
came forth with threats of vengeance towards you and your commander for 
the bloody victory of Fort Pillow, made a massacre only by dastardly Yankee 
reporters. Again you responded bravely to your general's call. You met 
the enemy and defeated him. Victory was never more glorious, disaster 
never more crushing and signal. From a proud and defiant foe, eti route to 
the heart of your country, with declarations both by negro and white troops 
of ' no quarter to Forrest or his men,' he became an enemy beaten, de- 
feated, routed, destroyed. You drove the boasted minions of despotism in 
confused flight from the battle-field. Seventeen guns, 250 wagons, 3000 
stand of arms, 2000 prisoners, and killed and wounded 2000 more are the 
proud trophies which adorn your triumphant banners. The remainder is 
still wandering in the bushes and bottoms, forever lost to the enemy. There 
were not over three thousand of you who achieved this victory over ten 
thousand of the enemy. Had you never before raised an arm in your coun- 
try's cause, this terrible overthrow of her brutal foe would entitle you to her 
deepest gratitude. Again vour general expresses his pride and admiration 
of your gallantry and wonaerful achievements. You stand before the world 
an unconquerable band of heroes. Whether dismounted, and fighting 
shoulder to shoulder like infantry veterans, or hurling your irresistible squad- 
rons on the flying foe, you evinced the same courageous bravery. 

" Soldiers ! amid your rejoicing do not forget the gallant dead upon 
these fields of glory. Many a noble comrade has fallen, a costly sacrifice to 
his country's independence. The most you can do is to cherish their mem- 
ory and strive to make the future as glorious as you and they have made 
the past. 

"To Brigadier-General Buford, commanding division, my obligations are 
especially due. His gallantry and activity on the field were ever conspicu- 
ous, and for the energy displayed in pursuing the enemy he deserves much 
of his government. He has abundant cause to be proud of his brigade com- 
manders. Colonels Lyon and Bell, who displayed great gallantry during the 
day. Colonel E. W. Rucker was prompt in the discharge of every duty. 
His brigade displayed conspicuous steadiness during the fight. Colonel W. 

428 



A STIRRING ADDRESS 

A. Johnson, commanding brigade from General Roddey's command, merits 
notice for his coolness and bravery on this occasion, and for the valuable 
services rendered by his troops. Nor can the general commanding forget to 
mention the efficient aid rendered by the artillery, commanded by Captain 
John W. Morton. He moved rapidly over the roughest ground and was 
always in action at the right time, and his well-directed fire dealt destruc- 
tion in the masses of the enemy. The general commanding also takes pleas- 
ure in noticing the intelligent alacrity with which Major C. W. Anderson, 
Captain W. H. Brand Lieutenants Otey, Donelson, Titus, and Galloway, of 
my staff, conveyed orders to all parts of the field. They were ever near my 
person, and were prompt in the discharge of every duty. Soldiers! you 
have done much, but there is still work for you to do. By prompt obedience 
to orders and patient endurance you will be enabled to repeat these great 
achievements. The enemy is again preparing to break through the living 
wall erected by your noble bosoms and big hearts. In the name and recol- 
lections of ruined homes, desolated fields, and the bleaching bones of your 
martyred comrades, you are appealed to again. The smoke of your burn- 
ing homesteads, the screams of your insulted women, and the cries of starv- 
ing children will again nerve your strong arms with strength. Your fathers 
of '76 had much to fight for, but how little and unimportant was their cause 
compared with yours. They fought not against annihilation, but simply to 
be independent of a foreign yet a constitutional and free government. You 
are struggling against the most odious of all tyranny, for existence itself, 
for your property, your homes, your wives and children, against your own 
enslavement, against emancipation, confiscation, and subjugation, with all 
their attendant horrors. 

" In conclusion, your commanding general congratulates you on the brill- 
iant prospects which everywhere pervade our cause. The independence of 
the Confederate States is a fixed, accomplished, immutable fact. The ray 
of peace is glimmering like bright sunshine around the dark clouds. Be 
true to yourselves and your country a little while longer and you will soon 
be enabled to return to your desolate homes, there to collect together once 
more your scattered household gods. 

*' By order of Major-Genera! N. B. Forrest. 

"C. W. Anderson, Assistant Adjutant-General."* 

* Official Records, Series I. vol. xxxix. p. 228. 



CHAPTER XVI 

THE TUPELO EXPEDITION, JULY, 1864 

General A. J. Smith's First Invasion — He and General Joseph A. Mower "Try Their 
Hands " — Sherman Puts a Price on Forrest's Life — Appeals to President Lincoln to 
Promote Brigadier-General J. A. Mower to a Major-General in Case He Should Kill 
Forrest — Far-sighted Men of the Confederacy, among them General Joseph E. 
Johnston, General Howell Cobb, and Governor Joseph E. Brown, of Georgia, Ask 
the President to Give up Mississippi, if Necessary, in Order to Place Forrest in 
Command of All the Cavalry, and Turn Him Loose on Sherman's Communications 
— Smith and Mower March Day after Day in Line of Battle, and Sleep on Tlieir 
Arms at Night — Skirmishing Continually — Major-General Stephen D. Lee Arrives 
and Takes Command of the Confederate Troops — Final Collision in Force and 
Bloody Battle at Harrisburg, Near Tupelo — The Confederates Repulsed with Great 
Slaughter — Unable to Drive the Federals from Their Strong Position, They Desist 
from Further Attack, but Remain in Line of Battle and in Sight of the Enemy 
Throughout the Day — Forrest Makes a Night Attack — Retreat of Smith and Mower 
on the Day Following the Battle — Vigorous Pursuit by Forrest, Who is Painfully 
Wounded at Old Town Creek — Unprecedented Losses in Killed and Wounded 
among the Confederates. 

ON June. i6th Sherman telegraphed Edwin M. Stanton, Sec- 
retary of War : " I have made necessary orders, through 
General McPherson, to inquire well into the Sturgis matter ; 
also to send as large a force again as he can get on Forrest's trail, 
and harass him and the country through which he passes. We 
must destroy him if possible." 

The undoing of Sturgis had for the second time thwarted Sher- 
man's designs against Mobile. In a despatch of this date to Mc- 
Pherson he says: '* We will not attempt the Mobile trip now, but 
I wish to organize as large a force as possible at Memphis, with 
General A. J. Smith or Mower in command, to pursue Forrest on 
foot, devastating the land over which he has passed, or may pass, 
and to make the people of Tennessee and Mississippi feel that 
although a bold, daring, and successful leader, he will bring ruin 
and misery on any country where he may pass or tarry. If we do 

430 



GENERAL A. J. SMITH INVADES MISSISSIPPI 

not punish Forrest and the people now, the whole effect of our 
vast conquest will be lost." * 

The people and not Forrest were punished by this terrible 
policy of General Sherman. True to his instructions, General 
Smith laid waste this beautiful country, burning towns, private 
residences, as well as granaries, gin-houses, and plantations. The 
city of Oxford and the country around might well have stood for 
the picture of the abomination of desolation. 

The expedition under Smith was only one of a series of move- 
ments which were intended to hold Forrest away from Sherman. 
On June 28th General Canby telegraphed Major-General H. W. 
Slocum at Vicksburg that " Smith's expedition would move from 
Memphis early in July, that a large cavalry force would leave the 
Mississippi River near Baton Rouge, to operate against the Mo- 
bile and Ohio railroad, while another invasion in the direction of 
Mobile will start about the 6th of July." 

This same officer reports to the General of the Army of the 
Tennessee : " I had previously written to General Washburn that 
he should employ A. J, Smith's troops, and any other that he 
could reach, to pursue and if possible destroy all of Forrest's 
command. I have placed under his control all the militia of the 
Northwestern States that were ordered to report to me, and sev- 
eral regiments of old troops from Missouri. This will give Smith 
an effective force of 12,000 or 15,000 men, and leave a reserve of 
5000 for other operations. I will start the expedition against 
Mobile four days later. A cavalry expedition will start at the 
same time from Vicksburg for the purpose of distracting the at- 
tention of the enemy from Smith's operations." f 

Sherman, on the 30th of June, instructed Major-General Rous- 
seau, in middle Tennessee, as follows: "The movement that I 
want you to study and be prepared for is contingent on the fact 
that General A. J. Smith defeats Forrest, and holds him well in 
check ; and after I succeed in making Johnston pass the Chatta- 
hoochee with his army, I want you to take twenty-five hundred 
good cavalry, with pack -mules, ammunition, etc., and two light 
Rodman guns, and start from Decatur to Blountsville, cross the 
Coosa at Ten Islands, thence rapidly to the railroad between Tus- 

* Official Records, vol. xxxix. part li. p. 123. t Ibid. p. 149. 

431 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

keegee and Opelika, tearing up the road and twisting the irons, 
threaten Columbus, Georgia, and then join me between Marietta 
and Atlanta."* 

General Sherman lost no opportunity to impress upon General 
Mower, whom he considered one of his ablest men and best fighters, 
that his rapid promotion depended upon his destruction of For- 
rest's command and the death of its leader. From near Kenne- 
saw, Georgia, he sent, on June 24th, the following message: 

" To Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States : 

" Sir, — I have ordered General A. J. Smith and General Mower from Mem- 
phis to pursue and kill Forrest, promising the latter, in case of success, my 
influence to promote him to a major-general. He is one of the gamest men 
in our service. Should accident befall me, I ask you to favor Mower, if he 
succeeds in disposing of Forrest. 

" William T. Sherman, Major-General."t 

While the great soldier of the Union cause was moving heaven 
and earth to keep the man he most dreaded from breaking in upon 
his rear, several of the most far-sighted men of the Confederacy 
were in vain pleading with the government at Richmond to give 
up Mississippi, if necessary, for the time being, and place General 
Forrest in command of all the cavalry in the Department of the 
Army of Tennessee, to conduct the operations for the destruction 
of the railroads supplying Sherman's army. Unfortunately these 
suggestions did not proceed from sources calculated to influence 
President Davis, for among the chief movers in this matter were 
two men towards whom he entertained a bitter personal animosity. 
The one was General Joseph E. Johnston, Sherman's most formi- 
dable antagonist in the brilliant strategic game which these two 
great soldiers were then playing in the remarkable campaign from 
Dalton to Atlanta. Johnston states that on June 13 and July 
16, 1864, he suggested to the President of the Confederacy direct- 
ly, and on four other occasions through General Bragg to Mr. 
Davis, that " an adequate force under the most competent officer 
in America for such service. General N. B. Forrest, be sent to 
operate against Sherman's communications." He says: "I did 

* Official Records, vol. xxxviii. part ii. p. 910. 
t Ibid. vol. xxxix. part ii. p. 142. 
432 



PRESIDENT DAVIS NOT TO BE ADVISED 

so in the confidence that this cavalry would serve the Confederacy 
far better by insuring the defeat of a great invasion than by re- 
pelling a mere raid."* 

The other, a personage of scarcely less importance, one of the 
ablest of the War Governors of the South, Joseph E. Brown, of 
Georgia, in a formal document addressed to Mr. Davis, requested 
that General Forrest be placed in command of all the cavalry, 
with a special view of operating with the army of General John- 
ston. His request having been refused, in a telegram to the Presi- 
dent of the Southern Confederacy, dated June 5, 1864, he says: "I 
regret that you cannot grant my request. I am satisfied that Sher- 
man's escape with his army would be impossible if ten thousand 
good cavalry under Forrest were thrown in his rear this side of 
Chattanooga, and his supplies cut off. The whole country expects 
this, although points of less importance should be for a time over- 
run in the destruction of Sherman's supplies. Destroy these, and 
Atlanta is not only safe, but the destruction of the army under 
Sherman opens Kentucky and Tennessee to us. Your informa- 
tion as to the relative strength of the armies in northern Georgia 
cannot be from reliable sources. If your mistake should result in 
the loss of Atlanta, and the capture of other strong points by the 
enemy in this State, the blow may be fatal to our cause, and re- 
mote posterity may have reason to mourn over the error." 

Mr. Davis did not delay his reply to this " impertinent " sug- 
gestion of a civilian, for on the date of its reception he answered 
by wire in a manner which displayed his feelings towards the Gov- 
ernor of Georgia and his indignation at and contempt for the 
criticism that this State officer had ventured to make upon his 
conduct of the war : 

"Your telegram received. Your dicta cannot control the distribution of 
troops in different parts of the Confederate States. Most men in your posi- 
tion would not assume to decide on the value of the services to be ren- 
dered by troops in distant positions. I would be glad to know the source of 
your information as to what the whole country will expect and posterity 
will judge." 

General Howell Cobb, of Georgia, in July, 1864, also joined in 

* Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, vol. iv. p. 276. 
2E 433 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

this suggestion to Mr. Davis, in a letter addressed to Mr. James 
A. Seddon, Secretary of War : " Allow me to express to you an 
opinion that the defence of Atlanta, Georgia, and the certain de- 
feat and destruction of Sherman's army are involved in some 
movement to be made by Forrest, if possible, on Sherman's line of 
communication. Unless it is done, I see no end to the slow proc- 
ess of Sherman's advance through Georgia. If his communica- 
tions were cut for ten days, his army would be destroyed. To 
effect such a result, could we not afford to uncover for a short 
time the country protected by Forrest ?" 

General Joseph Wheeler, who at that time was in command of 
all the cavalry operating with Johnston's army, gave once more 
a demonstration of his nobility of character and unselfish devo- 
tion to the Southern cause by endorsing General Johnston's rec- 
ommendation. It was he, in fact, who made the suggestion to 
General Johnston that General Forrest be placed in command 
of the cavalry, offering his co-operation in any capacity Johnston 
might desire.* 

Meanwhile the subject of these despatches, unconscious of the 
importance which in the high places was being attached to his 
movements, found himself with plenty to do where he was. He 
was at last confronted by the ablest soldier who so far had been 
pitted against him, a man who evidently had made a careful 
study of his adversary, and, while fully appreciating his great 
ability, had with unusual discernment discovered his weakest 
point. Ably seconded by Brigadier-General Joseph A. Mower, 
these two presented a combination well calculated to give Forrest 
such a fight as he had never before experienced. There was to be 
no repetition of the Sooy Smith or the Sturgis disasters. These 
men marched forth determined not to be surprised, and to fight, 
and succeeded admirably in their effort. They did not accom- 
plish all that they had intended, or all that was expected of them 
by the general who, from the battle-fields of northern Georgia, was 
watching with intense interest the progress of their expedition. 
They wounded, instead of killing their game. 

There is a ring of evident satisfaction in Sherman's despatch of 

* Personal communication to the author from General Joseph Wheeler 
in 1897. 

434 



EXPEDITION OF SMITH AND MOWER 

the 2d of July to Thomas, when he says, " I see Forrest is at 
Tupelo"; for he turns to Rousseau on the same date and advises 
him by telegraph : " Now is the time for the raid on Opelika. 
Forrest is in Mississippi, and Roddey has also gone there." To 
Grant, on the 12th of July, Sherman says: "I have now fulfilled 
the first part of the grand plan. Our lines are up to the Chatta- 
hoochee. Morgan failed in his Kentucky raid, and we have kept 
Forrest employed in Mississippi. The defeat of Sturgis was un- 
fortunate ; still, he kept Forrest away from us, and now A. J. 
Smith is out with a force amply sufficient to whip him." 

This force, which marched from La Grange, near Memphis, on 
the 5th day of July, 1864, "amply sufficient to whip him," con- 
sisted of 3200 cavalry (under General Grierson), 11,000 infantry, 
24 pieces of artillery, and 500 artillerists. Major-General Andrew 
J. Smith, commanding the right wing of the Sixteenth Army 
Corps, was in chief command. The infantry comprised the first 
division of the Sixteenth Army Corps, Brigadier-General Joseph 
A. Mower commanding ; third division of the Sixteenth Army 
Corps, Colonel D. Moore commanding; first brigade of the United 
States Colored Troops, Colonel E. Bouton commanding. 

The destination of Smith's expedition was the prairie country 
in the region of Okolona and West Point, in Mississippi. Its chief 
object was Forrest. It passed through Ripley on the 8th of 
July, meeting with no resistance beyond slight skirmishing with 
the videttes and outpost detachments which Forrest kept always 
well in front of his main force as a part of his thorough system of 
observation. Marching from Ripley southward, towards New 
Albany and Pontotoc, crossing the Tallahatchie on the 9th of 
July at New Albany, General Smith moved without incident, 
camping, on the night of the loth, five miles north of Pontotoc. 
After crossing the Tallahatchie, the wary commander of the Union 
expedition moved with the greatest possible caution. His main 
column was preceded by a line of battle fully a mile in length, 
while the cavalry was kept in heavy columns as flankers and in 
front. The rear was protected with a double guard of infantry, 
and the wagons were kept closed up between the infantry in 
front and rear. 

On the morning of the nth of July, as General Smith ap- 
proached the town of Pontotoc, he met with the first serious re- 

435 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

sistance to his advance. Chalmers and Buford, now fairly well 
concentrated, were in his front. So formidable did this array 
seem to the cautious Union general that he did not advance more 
than two miles from Pontotoc in the direction of Okolona on this 
day. General Chalmers says : " I placed Barteau's regiment on 
the Tupelo road, and Rucker's brigade on the Cotton-Gin road, 
with orders to watch the Tupelo road and reinforce Barteau if 
necessary, Lyon's and Mabry's brigades, under General Buford, 
were placed on the Okolona stage road, and McCuUoch's brigade 
was stationed on the Harrisburg road. All these dispositions 
were communicated to Major-General Forrest."* 

Brigadier-General Buford, on the loth, had been ordered by 
Forrest to send one hundred picked men to the rear of the enemy, 
to cut off his communications, and to make as much of a diversion 
as possible between him and his base of supplies. He says : " I 
immediately detached one hundred picked men under Captain H. 
A. Tyler, Company A, Twelfth Kentucky regiment. On Monday 
morning, the nth, the enemy made his appearance. This force 
was admirably equipped, commanded by an officer of experience 
and skill, and moved with great caution, always prepared." 

On Tuesday, the I2th of July, General Stephen D. Lee, com- 
mander-in-chief of this department,*arrived on the field with For- 
rest, and to these officers General Buford reported the oautious 
advance of the formidable army under General Smith. On the 
morning of the I2th the Union commander moved forward, in the 
hope of being able to force his way to Okolona. He says: " The 
enemy were discovered to be in force about nine miles from Pon- 
totoc, on the opposite side of a low, swampy bottom, through 
which ran two creeks. This bottom was about a mile and a half 
in width, densely timbered, which the enemy had rendered almost 
impassable by felling trees across the road. I did not deem it 
prudent to attack from the front, and on the morning of the 13th 
I moved towards Tupelo, making nearly a right angle at Pontotoc, 
following the cavalry with the infantry and train, and leaving the 
colored brigade and the Seventh Kansas to bring up the rear. 
I then ordered in my skirmish-line on the Okolona road, and com- 
menced to march towards Tupelo, a distance of about eighteen 

* Official Records, vol. xxxix. part i. p. 325. 
436 



LIEUTENANT-GENERAL LEE IN COMMAND 

miles. While this march was in progress, there was almost con- 
tinuous skirmishing from the front and rear of the column." 

General Smith reports : " Almost immediately upon leaving 
Pontotoc, skirmishing commenced in the rear ; but as my object 
was to secure Tupelo, and thus gain possession of the railroad and 
have the opportunity to choose my own ground for the battle, 
I directed the column to keep well closed up, and to move stead- 
ily forward without halting, unless absolutely necessary. When 
we were within about six miles of Tupelo the enemy made a 
charge with four brigades of cavalry upon the train. A sharp 
fight occurred, lasting about half an hour. The enemy were re- 
pulsed. Our loss was twenty-seven mules killed, seven wagons 
broken by the carelessness of the teamsters and burned by my 
order." ^ 

Lieutenant-General Lee arrived on the field on the I2th and 
took command of all the forces. General Forrest says : " With 
Mabry's brigade, my escort, and Jeffrey Forrest's old regiment, 
I was ordered to attack and press upon the rear of the enemy. 
At the same time General Lee moved with Chalmers's and Bu- 
ford's division on the right, with a view to attacking him in 
motion at every vulnerable point." As Forrest advanced, he 
found the enemy about a mile from Pontotoc, on the Okolona 
road, and, after a short, brisk skirmish, drove him into Ponto- 
toc, and then out eastward on the Tupelo road. Taking ad- 
vantage of every favorable position in his line of march, General 
Smith, with the rear-guard, resisted the advance of the Confeder- 
ates, and about ten miles east of Pontotoc he made a formida- 
ble stand and held Forrest in check until the latter brought up 
a battery of artillery, which compelled the Federal rear- guard to 
abandon their position and fall back rapidly upon their main col- 
umn. It was evident from the rapid movement of General Smith's 
column at this time that he had no idea of stopping to fight short 
of Tupelo. In fact, he admits that his object now was to gain 
the railroad there and destroy as much of it as possible. He also 
had in mind, as subsequent events demonstrated, to find some 
favorable position where he could give battle to the Confederates, 
with the greatest advantage to his own command. Forrest says : 

* General Smith's report. 
437 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

" I had now driven the enemy ten miles, and, as his flanks had 
not been attacked, I was fearful he was being driven too rapidly. 
I therefore halted my command and waited the attack upon his 
flanks. In about an hour our guns opened upon him three miles 
ahead. I resumed the march and hurriedly pressed forward, and 
on reaching the ground I found that General Chalmers had dashed 
into the road, surprised the enemy, and had taken possession of 
his wagon-train. He, however, threw back a large force upon 
Chalmers, and forced him to retire, although not until he had 
killed and wounded many men and horses, which forced the ene- 
my to abandon and burn several wagons, caissons, and ambulances. 
About this time heavy firing was heard still farther up in the di- 
rection of Tupelo, which admonished me that General Buford was 
also attacking the enemy's flank. As night approached, the enemy 
became more obstinate in his resistance, but I attacked his rear 
with renewed energy until nine o'clock, when I reached a point 
two miles from Harrisburg, where I was joined by my entire com- 
mand, which halted for the night. Being anxious to learn the 
exact position of the enemy, I moved Mabry's brigade forward, 
and opened with four pieces of artillery. At a late hour in the 
night, accompanied by one of my staff officers, I approached Har- 
risburg, and discovered the enemy strongly posted and prepared 
to give battle the next day." 

The firing which Forrest had heard was from a vigorous dash 
made by General Chalmers upon the flank of Smith's column 
while in motion, about eight miles west of Tupelo. For a mo- 
ment General Mower had relaxed the vigilance which had charac- 
terized his movements since crossing the Tallahatchie. It was 
observed by General Lee, who ordered Chalmers to attack the 
exposed position with Rucker's brigade. With Duff's Mississip- 
pians in advance, Rucker took temporary possession of one sec- 
tion of the train, killing a number of mules, which forced the 
Federals to abandon and burn several wagons, one caisson, and 
two ambulances ; " but his infantry rallied, and by superior num- 
bers forced us to retire." * The Confederates paid dearly for this 
bold attack. 

General Smith reports : " Immediately after this attack I learned 

* Chalmers's report. 
438 



PREPARING FOR ACTION AT HARRISBURG 

from General Grierson that he had possession of the town of Tu- 
pelo. I immediately passed the train to the front through the 
first division, and parked it about two miles west of Tupelo, at 
the same time forming line of battle, with the third division on 
the left of the road, making Pontotoc the objective point." 

The position selected by General Smith was one admirably 
adapted for successful defence. His line of battle, running nearly 
north and south, extended along the crest of a low ridge, which 
formed the centre of a large clearing or open field. From the 
summit of this elevation, looking nearly due west towards Ponto- 
toc, the direction from which the Confederates would advance 
upon him, the surface of the ground gradually descended to the 
level of a small valley or swale, beyond which the country was an 
undulating woodland with scant undergrowth and fairly heavy 
timber. From the Federal line, which was a little more than a 
mile and a half in length, the distance to the edge of the timber- 
land in front varied with the meanderings of the shallow ravine 
which marked the limit of the clearing. Just opposite their 
centre it was about three hundred yards from the timber to the 
crest of the ridge, while the woods here were so open that the 
Confederates were in plain view for the last five hundred yards 
of their approach. In other portions of the line the assailing 
troops were of necessity exposed to an artillery and small-arm 
fire for a distance varying from four hundred to one thousand 
yards. 

During the night the Federal commander had taken the pre- 
caution to strengthen his position by constructing light breast- 
works of rails and other materials. The most commanding points 
had been chosen for the artillery, and by break of day the entire 
twenty-four guns were posted and ready for battle. The cavalry 
were deployed, one brigade on either wing of the Union line, and 
were for most of the time mounted. However, as the engage- 
ment progressed, detachments from this arm of the service were 
dismounted and hurried on foot to reinforce the infantry. 

Between sundown and dark of the 13th, after the Confederates 
had encamped for the night, the scouts having reported that the 
Federals were bivouacking in line of battle about a mile in front, 
General Forrest determined to make a careful reconnaissance of 
their position. Greatly fatigued by the heavy work and intense 

439 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

heat of the day, he and General Lee had dismounted from their 
horses, and were conversing at some distance from their respective 
staffs. Lee was seated upon the ground, leaning against the 
trunk of a tree, while Forrest, in his shirt-sleeves, having pulled off 
his coat and spread it on the ground, was lying down at full length. 
Suddenly he started up, put on his coat, mounted his horse, and 
called to Lieutenant Samuel Donelson, of his staff, to mount and 
come with him. Riding through the woods, they made a wide de- 
tour, and in about an hour, or an hour and a half, it being by this 
time very dark, they came up well in the rear of the Federal army, 
and soon found themselves among the wagons where the Union 
teamsters were busily engaged feeding their animals. About a 
half-hour after they had started Forrest remarked to Donelson, 
" I have left my pistols." The lieutenant replied that he had 
one, and offered it to the general, who, however, declined, saying, 
" It doesn't matter much anyway. I don't think we will have 
any use for them." As it was so dark, the color of their uniforms 
could not be seen, and no notice was taken of the two horsemen as 
they deliberately passed along the rear of the Union encampment. 
Having satisfied himself as to the position of the enemy, Forrest 
then turned in the direction of his own camp. They had proceed- 
ed about two hundred yards when they were suddenly halted by 
two Federal soldiers who were on picket. Riding directly up to 
these men, Forrest, in a tone of affected indignation, said, "What 
do you mean by halting your commanding officer?" and without 
other remark passed the sentries, who did not discover the ruse 
which had been practised upon them until it was too late. Realiz- 
ing the mistake they had made, they again challenged the horse- 
men, who by this time were some seventy or eighty yards away, 
and on account of the darkness could not now be seen. Anticipat- 
ing that they would be fired at, Forrest and Donelson crouched 
down quickly upon their horses, put the spurs to them, and broke 
into a full run along the narrow roadway through the woods. The 
pickets fired, but the shots which came whizzing in that direction 
did no damage.* 

Of this incident, Forrest in his report says : " At a late hour in 
the night, accompanied by one of my staff officers, I approached 

* Manuscript of Lieutenant Donelson, in possession of the author. 

440 



MEETS THE ENEMY NEAR HARRISBURG 

Hanisburg, and discovered the enemy strongly posted and pre- 
pared to give battle the next day." 

By daylight on the morning of the 14th the Confederates, who 
had encamped for the night about two miles distant from Harris- 
burg on the Pontotoc road, were in motion in the direction of 
Tupelo. Almost immediately upon their advance they became 
engaged with the skirmishers of the wary Union commander, but 
these were gradually driven back until they retired within their 
fortified line. 

As Generals Lee and Forrest came in sight of the formidable 
array upon the heights in their front, they were fully impressed 
with the strength of the position and the difficulties they must 
encounter in the effort to carry it by assault. It became a matter 
of serious discussion between them as to whether under the cir- 
cumstances it would not be wiser to postpone the attack until 
General Smith should resume his line of march, when they might 
force him to battle under conditions less disadvantageous to the 
Confederates. General Lee stated to Forrest that it was a mat- 
ter of great importance that the force under General Smith should 
be dealt with vigorously and at once, so that he might be able to 
give much-needed attention to other portions of his department, 
which were then being heavily pressed.* A large force was at that 
moment threatening Mobile, and from the direction of Vicksburg 
an expedition was advancing into his territory, while from north- 
ern Alabama a third invasion (under Rousseau) was about to 
descend upon him. He admitted that it would be safer to wait 
until the Federals in their immediate front were on the march, 
and then strike them, but that it was impossible to say how long 
the Union commander would remain in his present position, and 
that the circumstances he had just detailed would not admit of 
delay. He stated, in conclusion, that they would have to fight 
then and there, or he would be compelled to withdraw a portion 
of the troops which were now on the ground and ready for battle, 
in order to meet the other dangers which were imminent. In 
view of these facts, General Forrest concurred in the attack, stat- 
ing that all that could be done was to go forward and fight the 

* Manuscript of Lieutenant - General S. D. Lee, in possession of the 
author. 

441 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

enemy. This statement of General Lee is in accord with that 
made to Colonel C. R. Barteau by General Buford, who was pres- 
ent at this conference.* At the close of this interview General 
Lee offered to Forrest the command of all the forces on the field, 
agreeing to render him every assistance in his power. " I said to 
General Forrest that a large proportion of the troops now on the 
ground belonged to his immediate command, had served under 
him in his recent successful campaigns, and had just won the 
splendid victory at Brice's Cross-Roads, having beaten some of 
the troops that they would have to encounter to-day, and that, 
knowing Forrest better than myself, they would have more im- 
plicit confidence in his leadership. General Forrest, however, 
positively declined to take the command, saying that I was his 
senior, and that I should take the responsibility. I replied, 'Then 
let it be a fight to the bitter end.'" f It should be borne in mind 
that General Forrest was at that time ill in health and had re- 
quested Lee a fortnight earlier to relieve him from command. 

From Tupelo, on June 28th, he wrote : " I am suffering with 
boils. If the enemy should move out, I desire you to take com- 
mand of the forces. Our force is insufficient to meet this com- 
mand. Can't you procure some assistance?" 

General Lee then gave Forrest his choice of what part of the 
line he would care to direct personally during the battle. Forrest 
selected the extreme right, or Roddey's division, while General 
Lee, placing Buford on the left, took his position near the centre 
of the Confederate line, where he could observe the entire field. 
As had been shown, the Union forces in line of battle were not 
quite 15,000, with twenty-four pieces of ordnance. The Confed- 
erates numbered 9460 effectives, with twenty pieces of artillery. 
The composition of this force was as follows: Chalmers's division, 
composed of McCulloch's and Rucker's brigades, 2300 ; Buford's 
division, Bell's, Lyon's, and (temporarily) Mabry's brigades, 3200 ; 
Roddey's division, composed of Patterson's and Johnson's bri- 
gades, 1500; Beltzhoover's battalion of infantry, and the dis- 
mounted troopers of Gholson's and Neely's brigades, 2100; 360 
artillerists with twenty guns. Deducting the horse-holders from 

* Manuscript of Colonel C. R. Barteau, in possession of the author, 
t Manuscript of General Lee, in possession of the author. 

442 



THE BATTLE OF HARRISBURG 

the 7000 cavalry — as these were dismounted to fight — and in- 
cluding the 21CX) infantry which were in line of battle, the Con- 
federate force available in the attack did not amount to more 
than 7500 troops. 

It was nearly seven o'clock by the time all of the Southern 
troops had arrived and taken their places in the line of battle, 
which was formed under the protection of the timber, nearly a 
mile distant from the Federal position, Mabry's brigade formed 
their extreme left ; touching this, and to the right, was Bell's bri- 
gade; both of these commanders being to the left, or north, of the 
Pontotoc road as one approaches Tupelo from the direction of 
Pontotoc, Crossland's brigade of Kentuckians came next in or- 
der, while still to the right of this, and somewhat refused or drawn 
back, was Roddey's division, Hudson's battery was detailed to 
move with Roddey, while with Mabry and Bell the batteries of 
Morton and Rice were in line. 

Thrall's guns were held in reserve with Chalmers near the cen- 
tre of the Confederate alignment, where two brigades (McCul- 
loch's and Rucker's), formed as a reserve, were deployed some 
four hundred yards in rear of Crossland, Rucker's men were to 
the left and in the rear of Bell, while McCulloch stood ready to 
support Colonel Crossland when needed. Still to the rear, a 
quarter of a mile, the 2100 dismounted cavalry and the battalion 
of infantry formed a second reserve of the Confederate line under 
General H. B. Lyon, 

As the Confederates moved forward under protection of the 
timber in which they had been deployed, General Lee wisely con- 
cluded to use every means possible to draw the enemy out of 
their intrenchments and induce them to assume the offensive. 
With this end in view, upon reaching the limit of the timber, just 
on the edge of the opening, the troops were halted, and a brisk 
fire at long range opened upon the Federals, In this preliminary 
firing the artillery on both sides took an active part. Fully an 
hour was spent in this futile effort to draw the Federal com- 
mander from his stronghold, with no other effect than to attract 
his attention in the direction of the Confederate right, where 
Roddey, across the clearing, and well back in the timber nearly a 
mile away, was deploying his division. Evidently taking the 
movement of the troops in this quarter as a threat upon the 

443 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

weakest portion of his line, the left, Smith immediately hurried 
reinforcements to that quarter. He says : " On the morning of 
the 14th the battle opened by the enemy attempting to secure a 
commanding position on our left. Advancing the third brigade 
of the third division into line with the remainder of the division, 
and throwing out a brigade of colored troops on the left of the 
third, but facing nearly to its flank, we easily drove the enemy 
from the hill, and retained possession of it during the entire 
battle."* 

By this time it was eight o'clock. The sky was cloudless, and 
the heat of the mid-July sun was already intense. For thirty 
days so little rain had fallen in this section that the earth was 
parched, the blades on the corn-stalks were twisted, the leaves 
were withering, the highways were filled with dust, and the wet- 
weather streams and branches were now as dry as the road-beds. 
It was with difificulty that enough water could be obtained to fill 
the canteens of the troops of the two small armies which stood 
facing each other in battle array. 

As the Confederates stood ready to advance they were facing 
directly east, so that the morning sun fell in their faces, giving 
their antagonists a great advantage of firing with their backs 
to the light. Just before giving the order for the troops to move 
to the attack, General Lee directed Forrest to repair to his 
portion of the field, and at the proper moment swing Roddey's 
division against the Union left. Comparing their watches, the 
two generals agreed upon the time when the attack should be 
made. Forrest rode away at full speed in the direction of Rod- 
dey, who was then nearly a mile to the right. General Lee says : 
" At the expiration of the time agreed upon between us when 
comparing our watches, I ordered the left wing in."t 

There was now precipitated a battle tragedy for a parallel to 
which the historian will in vain search the records. Without co- 
ordination or concert of action between the different portions of 
the assailing line, and without proper control, even of the sepa- 
rate commands, one brigade after another, in isolated rashness, pre- 
cipitated itself against this exceedingly strong position ; and as 

* Official Records, vol, xxxix. part i. p. 251. 
t Manuscript of General Lee, in possession of the author. 
444 



THE BATTLE OF HARRISBURG 

wave after wave of the ocean is scattered in spray against the 
unyielding cliffs, these waves 

"Of living valor rolling on the foe" 

were dashed to pieces. 

When General Buford, whose troops composed the centre and 
left of the Confederate line, received the order to advance, and 
had proceeded in company with General Lee as far as the edge of 
the open space across which in full sweep of the enemy's artillery 
and small arms his troops must pass before closing in upon them, 
he recognized the desperate character of the work and the heavy 
loss of life it would involve. He says: "I modestly expressed 
the opinion that the attack should not be a direct one ; that the 
majority of the forces should be thrown on the Verona and Tu- 
pelo road and a vigorous assault made on his left flank ; that a di- 
rect charge was what the enemy most desired and for which he 
was strongly posted, both by nature and art."* Buford's advice, 
however, came too late ; the order of battle had been given, For- 
rest had ridden away to the attack on the right, and evidently in 
the opinion of the commanding general it could not be changed. 
In moving forward, the Kentucky brigade under Colonel Edward 
Crossland obliqued to the right in order to be in touch with Rod- 
dey's portion of the line ; while the brigade of Mabry, which had 
been temporarily attached to General Buford's division, obliqued 
to the left. In the interval between Mabry and Crossland, Bell, 
with his brigade, was directed to advance. Meanwhile the Fed- 
eral and Confederate batteries were heavily engaged, Walton and 
Thrall taking the chief part at long-range practice on the South- 
ern side. It so happened that the Kentucky brigade debouched 
into the open space considerably in advance of Bell and Mabry, 
and these gallant spirits, believing themselves invincible when For- 
rest was on the field, eager to close in upon the enemy in hand-to- 
hand combat, could not be restrained, and, despite the orders and 
entreaties of their oflficers, in suicidal rashness rushed at full run 
upon the centre of the Federal position. General Lee, whose 
plan of battle, after having determined to attempt this desperate 
assault, was excellent, had ordered the entire left wing to attack 

* Official Records, vol. xxxix. part i. p. 330. 
445 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

at the same time and coincident with Forrest's attack on the right. 
Colonel Crossland says : " Though ordered to move surely and 
steadily, it was impossible to restrain the ardor of my men. Be- 
lieving that they were strongly supported both on the right and 
left, raising a shout, they charged forward on the enemy's line, 
which was keeping up a constant, destructive fire. Arriving within 
two hundred yards of the enemy, exposed during the whole time 
in an open field and under a most terrific fire of artillery and 
small arms from a force greatly superior to their own and strongly 
intrenched, the enemy suddenly opened an enfilading fire from 
both flanks." 

For fully five hundred yards across this open field, without a 
fence or gully, or any protection whatever, swept by two full bat- 
teries discharging grape and canister, these fearless troopers, not 
seven hundred in number, reserving their fire, braved this storm, 
and pressed up to within one hundred yards of the Federal breast- 
works. Then from their place of safety, with guns at rest, fully 
four thousand rifles of the Union infantry, from front and on both 
flanks, opened upon this forlorn hope a murderous volley. They 
fell by scores, and for a moment the thin line staggered as if about 
to yield. Realizing now that to retreat would be more dangerous 
than to go on, Crossland and Faulkner, in desperate mood, still 
mounted, rode out in front, and shouting " Forward, men ; for- 
ward !" the men quickly rallied, and again pressed on towards the 
enemy. Within a few yards of their breastworks Faulkner's horse 
was killed, and he, twice wounded, went down, and was left on the 
field. The color -bearer was killed, but the flag of the Twelfth 
Kentucky, perforated by eighteen bullets, was saved from capture. 
Some half a score of the Confederates reached the works, jumped 
in among the Federals, and were killed or taken prisoners. At 
this crisis the Federals to the right of the assaulting line rushed 
forward from their position on the flank and poured an enfilading 
fire on the unfortunate Kentuckians. Flesh and blood could not 
stand before such a withering storm of lead, and at last those who 
had thus far escaped broke for shelter to the woods in which a 
few minutes before they had been deployed. 

Seeing the desperate situation of Crossland's brigade, Buford 

hurried forward Mabry and Bell to strike the right of the Union 

position in order to divert a portion of the fire which was being 

446 






THE BATTLE OF HARRISBURG 

concentrated upon the Kentuckians. Mabry's advance, as has been 
shown, was obliquely to the left, and in making the movement 
through the woods he reached the open space a hundred yards in 
front of Bell's Tennesseeans, who had not yet cleared the timber. 
In the emergency which existed, Mabry did not await an align- 
ment with Bell, but charged forward with great bravery, only to 
meet a fate scarcely less tragic than that which had almost anni- 
hilated the brigade of Crossland. He says: *As soon as my 
command advanced within range of the enemy's artillery, he 
opened on me a furious cannonade. My line advanced stead- 
ily. When within about three hundred yards of the works a 
terrific fire of small arms was opened on me, I immediately 
ordered a charge, but the heat was so intense and the distance 
so great that some men and officers fell exhausted and faint- 
ing along my line, while the fire from the enemy's line of 
works, by both artillery and small arms, was so heavy and well- 
directed that many were killed and wounded, leaving my line al- 
most like a line of skirmishers." As bravely as men ever fought 
in this world, these fearless soldiers continued to advance. Arriv- 
ing within sixty yards of the enemy's works, Colonel Mabry says : 
" Seeing that my line was too much weakened to drive the enemy, 
I halted and directed the men to protect themselves by lying 
down in a hollow behind a low fence which covered a part of my 
front." 

The Federal troops from behind their protection had made 
short work of the Mississippians, who had lost fully one-third of 
their command before Bell's brigade rushed into the breach be- 
tween them and the Kentuckians. Bell and his famous brigade 
were never laggards on any field, and here they did their duty 
nobly and well ; but so close was the range and so concentrated 
the fire from the greatly superior numbers in their front that even 
such valor as they were wont to display was of no avail. After a des- 
perate yet vain struggle, in which many of their bravest and best 
ofificers and men fell, they relinquished their effort, but not until the 
surviving remnant of Mabry's Mississippians had been withdrawn 
under their protection, and Colonels R. M. Russell, C. R. Barteau, 
A. N. Wilson, J. F. Newsom, Lieutenant-Colonel D. M. Wisdom, 
and Major W. T. Parham — in fact, the commander of every regi- 
ment — were shot down, and in Barteau's Second Tennessee only 

447 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

one commissioned officer escaped. General Bell says: " My bri- 
gade marched out just in rear of Mabry's, which, after fighting 
some time in front of the enemy's fortifications, retired, leaving 
my brigade to take its place," 

In the desperate fighting which was going on the Confederate 
artillery was taking its full share, and was handled with the bold- 
ness and precision which characterized these splendid artillerists 
which Forrest had trained. As the troops were forming in the 
woodland, two of these batteries (Walton's and Thrall's), with 
guns of somewhat longer range, had been responding to the fire 
from the Union pieces which lined the heights in their front. As 
the troops marched onward into the open field and began the 
descent of the slope which lay between them and the enemy, 
these daring cannoneers unlimbered their guns, and at close range 
pushed them forward with the line of battle. Rice's battery went in 
with Crossland's brigade, and to its support, somewhat in the rear, 
Thrall now advanced his guns. On the left, the old Morton bat- 
tery, commanded then by Lieutenant Sale, took its place in the 
rear of Mabry's and Bell's brigades, and, marching boldly, un- 
limbered its pieces within four hundred yards of the intrenched 
position of the Union forces. The fine practice of Morton and 
his batteries was soon in evidence. A Federal officer. Captain 
W. S. Burns, who took part in this engagement, says : " For- 
rest's artillery was very active ; one battery in particular was 
handled with great accuracy, throwing its shot and shell into 
the Twenty-first Missouri, Fifty-eighth Illinois, and Eighty-ninth 
Indiana until the Illinois and Indiana batteries engaged their 
attention."* 

So terrific was the fire concentrated upon this battery on account 
of the execution it was doing that five of the seven gunners and 
six of the eight horses of one piece were disabled, and the sergeant 
(Brown) in command, though three times wounded, refused to quit 
his gun, and when the Confederates retired from the field it was 
rolled off by hand. Another piece, the wheel of which was shat- 
tered, was also dragged away and saved. 

Although the Kentuckians under Crossland had wavered for a 
moment under the murderous fire which had been directed at them, 

* Battles and Leaders of thf Civil War, vol. iv. p. 422. 
448 



I 



THE BATTLE OF HARRISBURG 

as soon as they saw the advance of Mabry, and Bell's troops com- 
ing out of the woods a little farther back on their immediate left, 
they rallied. As their commander reports : " They seemed imbued 
with fresh vigor, and again charged forward, intent upon taking the 
enemy's works and driving him before them ; but the fire was too 
galling. The ranks were decimated — literally mowed down. Some 
of my best officers were either killed or wounded. The brigade 
was compelled to fall back; not, however, until it had reached 
the enemy's line. Some of my brave men fell within the enemy's 
works, some within a few feet of them, and Colonel Faulkner, of the 
Twelfth Kentucky regiment, had his horse killed under him with- 
in a few yards of the enemy, and he himself was severely wounded." * 
The rash advance of Crossland's brigade, which can only be ac- 
counted for by the lack of that rigid discipline which holds men 
in strict obedience to command, whether in advance or retreat, 
was the first great misfortune of the day, and probably contributed 
most to the severe repulse and terrific losses which the Confeder- 
ates received on this bloody field. The second and scarcely less 
serious misfortune was the failure on the part of Generals Forrest 
and Lee to estimate accurately the time which should have been 
allowed for Forrest to reach the right wing where Roddey's di- 
vision was. This portion of the Confederate line of battle was, on 
account of the greater distance from the edge of the timber to the 
Federal position, some four or five hundred yards, refused or drawn 
back ; and although General Forrest rode with the greatest speed 
and carried his line forward to the attack as rapidly as possible, 
he had not approached near enough to engage the Federals in his 
front before Crossland's men in their mad rush had been destroyed. 
General Forrest says in his official report : " General Lee gave the or- 
der to advance, and directed me to swing the right around upon the 
enemy's left. I immediately repaired to General Roddey's right 
with all possible speed, which was nearly a mile distant, and, after 
giving him the necessary orders, I dashed across the field for the 
purpose of securing a position in which to place his troops. On 
reaching the front I found the Kentucky brigade (Crossland's) had 
been rashly precipitated forward, and were retiring under the mur- 
derous fire concentrated upon them."t 

* Official Records, vol. xxxix. part i. Crossland's report. f Ibid, 

2F 449 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

Forrest, who at this time was on the left of Roddey's division 
and nearest to Crossland, seeing the Kentuckians in confusion and 
being beaten back, rushed in among them, seized their colors, and 
rallied the men at the edge of the timber to which they were re- 
tiring as he rode up to them. Having failed to close in with the 
enemy in time to attack in concert with Crossland, he wisely de- 
sisted from repeating an isolated assault with his division. He 
says : " The terrific fire poured upon the gallant Kentucky bri- 
gade showed the enemy was supported by overwhelming num- 
bers in an impregnable position, and, wishing to save my troops 
from the unprofitable slaughter which I knew would follow any 
attempt to charge his works, I did not push forward with Rod- 
dey's command when it arrived, knowing it would receive the 
same concentrated fire which had repulsed the Kentucky brigade." 

General P. D. Roddey states : " I was ordered by General For- 
rest to swing the troops under my command around on the ene- 
my's left, covering the railroad south of his position, and to ad- 
vance to the attack. The movement was executed in so far that 
the troops were in line facing the enemy's left, and had sufBcient- 
ly advanced to drive his skirmishers back on his main force, when 
General Forrest ordered an immediate retreat to the horses, say- 
ing that Buford was badly cut up." * 

While all this was transpiring in the centre and to the left, 
where the remnants of Mabry's brigade were being withdrawn to 
the timber, the first line of reserves under Chalmers was ordered 
to their support. Rucker's brigade was directed to move forward 
to the position of Mabry and Bell, and advanced gallantly to their 
work. Marching through the Mississippians, Rucker's men took 
their place at the front, and swept across the field and up the 
slope in the direction of the Federals, and these now turned their 
death-dealing fusillade upon this stubborn fighter, who at the 
head of his veterans was twice wounded and carried from the 
field. So heavy was the fire upon this portion of the Confed- 
erate line at this time that, after severe loss, they in turn were 
compelled to retire to the edge of the timber. Captain Burns, 
speaking of the persistent gallantry of these men, says: "For 

* Letter from General Roddey to General Lee. Copy in possession oi 
the author. 

4SO 



II 



THE BATTLE OF HARRISBURG 

an hour and a half the struggle continued, until the enemy were 
driven from the front of Moore, leaving the ground covered 
with their dead and dying. Instead of retiring to the woods 
(where their horses were held in reserve, for Forrest's army was 
always ' mounted infantry ') they moved in what at first ap- 
peared a confused mass to their left, crossed to the north of the 
Pontotoc road, turned, and in good line of battle swept down 
upon Mower, whose men (under orders) reserved their fire until 
the enemy were quite near, when they opened upon them with 
musketry and canister shot. Human beings could not stand such 
a storm, and the attacking line fell back, only to return to a some- 
what exposed part of Mower's line." 

Coincident with Rucker's advance, McCulloch's brigade was 
thrown forward to relieve Crossland, but fortunately was not per- 
mitted to advance farther in this hopeless enterprise, Generals 
Lee and Forrest ordering the attack to be stopped. 

The able commander on the Union side did not fail to take 
advantage of the lack of co-ordination which characterized the 
advance of the Confederates. Referring to the isolated attack of 
the Kentucky brigade, in his oflficial report General Smith says: 
" The enemy advanced in line upon the right or third division 
near the Pontotoc road. They drove in our skirmishers, and were 
allowed to come within about one hundred yards of the main line, 
when our forces rose and delivered one volley at short range, and 
charged with their bayonets, driving the enemy with a heavy loss 
from the field, and killing even more while running than in the 
first volley." * 

In referring to the attack by Mabry and Bell on the left, he 
says : " Passing towards our right, they rallied at the edge of the 
timber, and were reinforced and strengthened by their whole 
available force, and once more returned to the attack, which was 
this time made on the first division, Brigadier-General Mower 
commanding. The enemy started from the edge of the timber 
and advanced in three lines. At first their lines could be distin- 
guished separately, but, as they advanced, lost all semblance of 
lines, and the attack resembled a mob of huge magnitude. There 
was no skirmish line, main line, or reserve ; but it seemed to be a 

* Official Records, vol. xxxix. part i. p. 252. 
451 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

foot-race as to who should reach us first. They were allowed to 
approach, yelling and howling like Comanches, to within canister 
range, when the batteries opened upon them. Their charge was 
evidently made with the intention of capturing our batteries, and 
was gallantly made, but without order, organization, or skill. 
They would come forward, fall back, forward again, and fall back 
with a like result. Their determination may be seen from the 
fact that their dead were found within thirty yards of our batter- 
ies. After two hours of fighting in this manner General Mower 
advanced his line about a quarter of a mile, driving the enemy 
before him from the field. This ended the fighting of the day." 

The Confederates having absolutely failed to make any impres- 
sion upon the Union line. General Forrest now ordered four pieces 
of artillery to be advanced on the Verona road in the direction of 
Tupelo, and moved Roddey's division there, making a demonstra- 
tion upon the left of Smith's position, but no further assault was 
made by the Confederates. They were withdrawn to the woods, 
where Forrest quickly threw up breastworks, behind which his 
troops remained in line of battle for the remainder of the 
day. General Forrest says : " About one o'clock Lieutenant- 
General Lee ordered me to fall back to the residence of Mrs. 
Sample, and form a new line fronting a large open field. The 
position selected was a strong one. I ordered the immediate 
construction of temporary fortifications, and in a short time 
the men along my entire line were protected. . . . The approach 
of the enemy was anxiously awaited, but he still remained be- 
hind his fortifications. At night he commenced burning the 
houses in Harrisburg.* General Chalmers advanced with one 
of his batteries and McCulIoch's brigade, and did good execu- 
tion by throwing shells among the enemy, who could be plain- 
ly seen by the light of the burning houses. At the approach 
of darkness I ordered Rucker's brigade to report to me mount- 
ed, and with it I moved to the right, cautiously approaching 
the enemy's left, with a view of determining his position and 

* The devastation by fire of this portion of the country by General A. J. 
Smith was complete, and was in line with General Sherman's war policy as 
expressed in his correspondence — namely, to let the people know that wher- 
ever Forrest and his men were found the land would be laid waste with fire 
and sword. 

452 



THE BATTLE OF HARRISBURG 

strength. By meandering through the woods I approached very 
near his camp before he discovered my presence. I ordered my 
men to open fire upon him, and the first line fell back to the main 
body. Then they opened upon me one of the heaviest fires I 
have heard during the war. Returning to camp, I ordered Gen- 
eral Buford to move to the right with his division and occupy the 
road between the enemy and Verona, and oppose any advance in 
that direction." i 

Forrest, from his fortified position, was destined to disappoint- 
ment in the hope of an advance upon him by General Smith, who 
had not only determined not to attack the Confederates, but to 
retreat to Memphis as rapidly as possible. The Union commander 
says: "My troops were so exhausted with the heat, fatigue, and 
short rations that it was not possible to press them farther. Sixty 
prisoners were captured unwounded. During the afternoon the en- 
emy attempted to attack our rear from the east side of Tupelo, and 
were repulsed. At sundown, as they were making no demonstration 
whatever, I directed the main bodies of my command to fall back 
about six hundred yards towards the wagons. At 1 1 P.M. the en- 
emy attempted a night attack, drove in the skirmishers, but were 
promptly met and repulsed. On the morning of the 1 5th ... it be- 
came a matter of necessity to return. I am sorry to say that for 
lack of transportation, and the character of their wounds, I was 
obliged to leave about forty of the worst wounded of my command 
at Tupelo, I sent out one brigade of cavalry on the Pontotoc road 
to bring off a gun of the enemy which had been disabled the day 
before, which they did after some slight skirmishing. Being now 
nearly noon, and no demonstration from the enemy, I directed 
Colonel Moore, commanding the third division, to withdraw his 
line and take the advance and proceed on the Ellistown road, mov- 
ing very .slowly, the train to follow with sick and w6unded. Gen- 
eral Mower and the remainder of the cavalry covering the with- 
drawal. On reaching Old Town Creek we encamped for the night. 
The first division was ordered to pass the third and take position 
in advance, so that it might be in readiness to take the advance in 
the morning. It had scarcely advanced when a small force of the 
enemy, numbering perhaps a thousand men, took position on a 
hill, and commenced shelling the camp. General Mower turned 
back two of his reginients, and, with the brigade of the third 

453 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

division, drove them back about a mile, with heavy loss. We en- 
camped at ElUstown on the i6th, near New Albany on the 17th, 
at Tippah on the i8th, reached Salem on the 19th, on the 20th 
moved to Davis's Mills, and on the 21st were at La Grange, hav- 
ing been gone seventeen days." 

The position that Forrest had already taken on the morning 
of the 15th on the Verona road with Roddey's division was re- 
inforced by General Buford, who, advancing, forced in the Fed- 
eral skirmishers and drove their main line back for about a mile. 
The heat was so oppressive that in this advance eighty of Buford's 
men were left unconscious on the field from sunstroke. At two 
o'clock the enemy were in full retreat, and Bell's brigade was 
placed in front with Rice's battery and ordered to press them 
vigorously. He came up with their rear-guard at Old Town 
Creek, four miles from Tupelo, where he vigorously attacked, and 
where Mower as vigorously in turn attacked Bell and Crossland. 
It was here that Colonel L. J. Sherrill, of the Seventh Kentucky, 
was killed, and Colonel Crossland, commanding the brigade, was 
seriously wounded. Mower, who was in command of the Federal 
rear-guard here, handled his troops with his usual skill and cour- 
age, and the Confederates were repulsed. McCulloch came up 
to the reHef of Bell and Crossland, and succeeded in holding his 
ground, but in so doing was most desperately wounded. 

General Forrest says: "The enemy continued his retreat, and 
was pursued for two days by Rucker and Roddey. My force 
during this engagement did not exceed five thousand men. The 
enemy fought behind fortifications, and in positions of his own se- 
lection. Three of my brigade commanders — Rucker, McCulloch, 
and Crossland — were severely wounded, and all the colonels were 
either killed or wounded ; 210 were killed, 1 116 wounded." 

When McCulloch fell, and while Forrest was riding with Rice's 
battery to an advanced position, in order to open upon Mow- 
er, he received a painful wound through his right foot which 
incapacitated him for the time being from active service. The 
command then devolved upon General Chalmers, who held his 
position until the enemy retired. 

Shortly after Forrest was wounded the rumor spread among 
the troops that he had been killed, causing the greatest consterna- 
tion among the soldiers. When this was reported to Forrest, who 

454 



THE BATTLE OF HARRISBURG 

had been taken some distance to the rear, where the hemorrhage 
was arrested and his wound dressed, he mounted his horse at 
once, and, without even taking time to put on his coat, rode in his 
shirt-sleeves at a gallop along the line of troopers, cheering them 
not only by his presence, but with encouraging words, assuring 
them that it was only a slight flesh wound, and he was still able 
and ready to lead them. Dr. C. W. Robertson, of Somerville, 
Tennessee, who was then a private soldier under Forrest, says : 
"The effect produced upon the men by the appearance of Gen- 
eral Forrest is indescribable. They seemed wild with joy at see- 
ing their great leader was still with them." 

In the desperate fighting of the 13th, 14th, and 15th, the 
Confederate loss was extremely heavy. In Crossland's brigade 
this officer was wounded, and Colonel Harrison and Lieutenant- 
Colonels Cage, Nelson, and Sherrill were killed, and Faulkner 
twice wounded. Crossland says: "The action of the 14th was 
the most severe and destructive ever encountered by the troops 
of this brigade, who were veterans in the service. Their loss 
was unprecedented. Nobly each man did his duty, not one 
failing to respond. There were no laggards or cowards; every 
man was keenly alive to the interest he had personally in the 
contest." 

Crossland reports that he had 800 men on the field. Deduct- 
ing the horse-holders, 600 troops of this brigade went into action, 
of which number 276, or forty-six per cent., were killed or wounded. 
Only 30 were reported missing. 

The loss in Crossland's brigade was not often surpassed dur- 
ing the war, and then only in those long continuous engage- 
ments which occupied one or more days ; but in no battle of 
the war which lasted no longer than an hour and a half (the 
time the troops were engaged at Harrisburg) was there such 
great loss. 

Of the remnant of General Morgan's Kentucky cavalry, 80 
in number, who arrived upon the field just before the engage- 
ment, under the command of Captain Campbell, 5 were killed, 19 
wounded, and 2 missing, or thirty per cent.* Mabry went into 

* On July 25th, 1864, from Abingdon, Virginia, General John H. Morgan 
wrote to General Forrest : " Permit me to mingle my congratulations with 

455 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

the charge with 750 men and left thirty-three per cent, upon the 
field in killed and wounded. Bell's brigade lost 47 killed, 353 
wounded, and none missing. Four of his field-officers — Colonel 
Isham Harrison, Lieutenant - Colonel John B. Cage, Lieutenant 
Thomas M. Nelson, and Major Robert C. McKay — were killed.* 

General Forrest, in closing his report of this sanguinary afifair, 
pays an eloquent and touching tribute to those who perished there: 
" The battle of Harrisburg will furnish the historian a bloody rec- 
ord, but it will also stamp with immortality the gallant dead and 
the living heroes it has made. Prominent among the former the 
names of Colonel Isham Harrison, Lieutenant -Colonel Thomas 
M. Nelson, Lieutenant-Colonel John B. Cage, Lieutenant-Colonel 
L. J. Sherrill, and Major Robert C. McKay will shine in fadeless 
splendor. They were lion-hearted officers. It was a sad blow that 
struck down these gallant spirits. In unselfish devotion to the 
cause and high courage they leave no superiors among men. 
Their noble natures and ardent patriotism, it is to be hoped, will 
find in the soldier's grave that peace for which their country has 
thus far struggled in vain, and for the achievement of which they 
have sacrificed their lives. Future generations will never weary of 
hanging garlands upon their graves." 

In the battle at Harrisburg, as between the contending armies, 
honors were easy. While the bloody repulse of the Confederate 
assault on the morning of the 14th of July was a victory for the 
Union commander, the ultimate result of the engagement can- 
not in fairness be so considered. The retreat of the Federal army 
from the field, the close and vigorous pursuit of the troops under 
General Lee, a portion of which harassed the rear of the retiring 

the applause of the whole country for your recent brilliant victories. I never 
hear of your successes that they do not arouse the most pleasurable feelings 
of friendly satisfaction. I was truly glad to learn that in your late engage- 
ment with the enemy at Tupelo some three hundred men of my command 
arrived on the field in time to afford you assistance, and am highly pleased 
with your acknowledgment of their services." 

* The losses on the Confederate side in the engagements of the 13th, 14th, 
and 1 5th of July were : Chalmers's division, 57 killed and 255 wounded ; total, 
312. Buford's division, including Mabry's brigade, 153 killed and 798 wound- 
ed ; total, 951. Morgan's squadron of 80, 5 killed and 19 wounded ; total, 24. 
Total loss in killed and wounded, 1287. Total missing, 50 — 48 in Buford's 
brigade and 2 in Morgan's detachment, 

456 



THE BATTLE OF HARRISBURG 

column for four days after the battle, demonstrated that Generals 
Smith and Mower, in being so remote from succor and their base 
of supplies, did not feel that sense of security which usually be- 
longs to the victor in battle. 

The battle of Gettysburg is justly pronounced a great Union 
victory, notwithstanding the fact that General Robert E. Lee, 
after the bloody repulse of Longstreet's corps, retired to his 
original position on the field and for twenty-four hours offered 
battle, which was refused by his antagonist. Had General Meade 
on the day after the close of the struggle withdrawn his forces 
in the direction of Baltimore or Philadelphia, leaving General 
Lee in possession of the field, history would have recorded the 
Confederates as victorious there. In like manner, when at noon 
on the day after this smaller battle near Tupelo, General Smith 
retreated from the field, it was an acknowledgment of his ina- 
bility to hold his position and an abandonment of the object 
of his expedition, and therefore a Confederate victory. He had 
been sent out to destroy Forrest's command, and if possible to 
kill the Confederate leader, and incidentally to tear up the Mo- 
bile and Ohio railroad and invade the " prairie country." With 
the exception of about four miles of track torn up at Tupelo, 
not a single object of the expedition was accomplished. In sup- 
port of this is the fact that Sherman was dissatisfied with his 
early return and the manner of his coming, and directed Wash- 
burn to send him back at once to keep Forrest busy. 

It has been stated that General A. J. Smith's chief claim for 
recognition as a general of ability was his defeat of Forrest at Tu- 
pelo. Even if the result at Harrisburg had been a victory for the 
Federal commander, it could not in fairness be considered a de- 
feat of Forrest. While it is true that fully three-fourths of the 
troops on the field, and all of those who took part in the en- 
counter, belonged to Forrest's command, he positively refused to 
take charge of the battle, and, as General Lee states, left him to 
assume the responsibility of the engagement. 

Forrest did not even command the troops that went into ac- 
tion, nor did the portion of the line of which he was in command 
fire a single volley. Had the Union troops been driven from the 
field. General Lee would have been entitled to the credit of this 
achievement. 

457 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

It is worthy of comment that in this brief and desperate en- 
counter of the 7500 Confederate troops in line of battle and ready to 
engage, fully 4000 did not fire a shot. The reserve under Lyon, 2 100 
strong, were never in gunshot range, Roddey's division under For- 
rest, 1500 strong, drove in the skirmishers in their immediate 
front, but advanced no nearer than within about four hundred 
yards of the Union left. McCulloch's brigade, 1400 strong, ad- 
vanced from the first line of reserves, but did not approach 
near enough to the Federals to engage their attention. If such 
an impression could have been made upon the Union position by 
this small proportion of the assaulting line, it is exceedingly prob- 
able that had all the Confederates on the field moved forward in 
proper alignment, with the supporting columns close up, as Gen- 
eral Lee intended, and had all fought with the desperate valor ex- 
hibited by those engaged. General Smith's army would have been 
beaten and destroyed. 

In his official report the Federal commander states as his rea- 
son for retreating to Memphis that ** much of his bread was spoiled 
when drawn from the commissary depot, and that there was on 
hand but one day's rations left." If this be accepted as a fact, 
his army must have lived for four days upon a single day's rations, 
because it took him that length of time to reach his commissary 
at La Grange. He says in his report : " We reached Salem on the 
19th, where we found supplies awaiting our arrival." 

It must be borne in mind that the country around Tupelo at 
that time abounded with growing corn, and the wheat and rye had 
been already garnered. General Smith was within one day's march 
of the prairie region of Mississippi, which was then one vast field 
of ripening grain, and bountifully afforded all the necessaries for 
the support of an army. He could have sustained his troops there 
for months, and if, as he claimed, he defeated the Confederates 
so signally here, he had nothing to do but to march after the 
beaten forces, drive them into and beyond the prairie country 
they were fighting to defend, and permanently establish himself 
in this rich land. 

It may be proper to inquire why did not this careful and com- 
petent commander — for such he proved himself to be — assure him- 
self before starting on a march so far from his base of supplies, 
and to meet such a formidable adversary as he knew Forrest to be, 

4S8 



THE FEDERALS DEFEATED AT HARRISBURG 

that his supplies were sufficient for the campaign ? He also says : 
"Our ammunition was issued, and we had remaining only about 
one hundred rounds per gun ; it therefore became a matter of ne- 
cessity to return." One hundred rounds of artillery ammunition 
to each of twenty-four guns would seem to have been sufficient 
for all practical purposes had General Smith felt himself safe to 
again try the gage of battle. 

Between the lines it is not difficult for the careful student to 
read the real cause of General Smith's retreat. He had never 
seen men fight with such desperate (if misdirected) valor. After 
this exhibition he did not dare to advance upon his antagonist, in 
compact line and behind defences, nor could he safely remain 
where he was. 



CHAPTER XVII 

GENERAL A. J. SMITH'S SECOND INVASION OF MISSISSIPPI 

Forrest Declines to Go to the Rear to Have His Wound Treated — He Has a Buggy 
Arranged so thai He can Drive About and Keep His Injured Foot Elevated — 
Disturbed by Interference from Richmond with Appointments of Officers Made 
by Him in the Various Regiments of His Command — He Addresses a Strong 
Confidential Communication to the President — He is Sustained by the Inspector- 
General — General S. D. Lee Transferred, and General Dabney H. Maury Tem- 
porarily in Command — Sherman Sends Smith Back After Forrest — Report that 
Forrest Died of Lockjaw as a Result of His Wound at Old Town Creek — The 
Confederates Fall Back from the Tallahatchie to Oxford — Forrest Selects Two 
Thousand Picked Men, and Marches Around General Smith's Army and Descends 
on Memphis, which He Attacks on the 2istof August, 1864, Riding into the Heart 
of the City — General C. C. Washburn Escapes from His Residence in Daylight in 
His Night-Clothes — General Hurlbut Escapes by being Absent from Home for the 
Night — Sharp Fighting in the Streets of Memphis — Captain Bill Forrest Rides 
into the Office of the Gayoso House and Dismounts at the Clerk's Desk — Capture 
of General Washburn's Uniform and Effects — Colonel Starr Attacks Forrest, and 
in a Personal Encounter is Wounded — Forrest Returns to His Command — Wash- 
burn Scores Smith for Permitting Forrest to Escape — Smith, as a Result of For- 
rest's Attack on Memphis, is Ordered to Retreat, and Abandons Mississippi to the 
Confederates. 

THE wound received by General Forrest at Old Town Creek 
on the 15th of July, 1864, was the most painful of the many 
injuries from which he suffered during his career of hard 
fighting. The ball penetrated the right foot near the base of the 
great toe, and ranged through the most sensitive portion of the 
sole. Dr. J. B. Cowan, his chief surgeon, who was with him con- 
stantly throughout the war, while testifying that as a rule his pa- 
tient exhibited great fortitude under these trying ordeals, says 
that in this instance his strong will gave way to the intense pain 
which this wound caused. Moreover, for some time past, symp- 
toms pointing to a general impairment of his health were evident. 
The tremendous strain through which mind and body had passed 
for the three years since he entered active service were telling 

460 



SADLY WOUNDED BUT STILL ACTIVE 

even on his strong physique, but the will of iron was as yet un- 
broken. Before General A. J. Smith's first expedition left Mem- 
phis, General Forrest had requested a leave of absence, stating 
that he was afflicted with a number of boils which almost pre- 
vented him from moving about ; but as soon as his territory was 
invaded these ills of the flesh were forgotten. Now, as the Fed- 
erals were in retreat towards Memphis, his surgeon advised him 
to give up active duty, take the rest he so much needed, and 
have his wound properly cared for ; but this advice was also un- 
heeded. As the injury to the foot prevented him from riding on 
horseback, he secured a light buggy, had it arranged with a rest 
or frame projecting over the dash-board, to maintain his leg and 
foot in an elevated posture, and in this way was able to continue 
in the personal direction of affairs. It was a novel sight, this 
major-general of cavalry in the field, 

" Instead of mounting barbed steeds 
To fret the souls of fearful adversaries,' 

seated in a dilapidated " war-time " buggy, guiding a spiritless 
nag among the trees and along the highways of Mississippi, care- 
fully dodging stumps and roots and stones, or anything which 
ipight jolt the crippled foot ! The day after he was wounded he 
was occupied in visiting the houses near the battle-field and in 
Tupelo where the wounded soldiers were collected. Incidentally 
he drove over the battle-field, superintending the gathering up of 
all abandoned property. Meanwhile his mind was busy, not only 
with the present disposition and reorganization of his troops, 
and the restoration of confidence, which had necessarily been im. 
paired by the bloody repulse at Harrisburg, but also with plans 
for future movements upon the enemy. 

On July 17th he submitted to General S. D. Lee the following 
suggestions : " In the event the enemy does not threaten any im- 
mediate movement against us, I respectfully suggest that Rod- 
dey's command remain or be encamped at Tupelo, Mabry's at or 
near Camargo, and Buford's and Chalmers's divisions and Neely's 
brigade be sent in the neighborhood of Pikeville, on Chuckatou- 
chee Creek, to be fitted up, rested, and reorganized. With this 
disposition of the command, at least one hundred captured ne- 
groes, now putting up forage, can be placed at work on the rail- 

461 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

road, and in a short time have it opened and running to Corinth. 
Mabry's brigade can be supplied with forage in the neighborhood 
of Camargo, and there is plenty of forage (tax in kind) on the 
Chuckatouchee for the other commands, and the men can also eat 
vegetables, which they very much need. I could establish my 
office and headquarters at this place (Okolona), remaining nomi- 
nally in command, and have to a great extent the direction of 
affairs in reorganizing and fitting the troops for active service in 
the field, and in gathering up the absentees. With the horses 
now being recruited in pasture, and those of dead and perma- 
nently disabled officers and men, I think the battalion of dis- 
mounted men can be remounted and sent to their respective regi- 
ments. I am also of the opinion that it would be a good plan to 
send home one officer from every company to get absentees, and 
to bring horses to those who have them at home but have not 
been granted the privilege of going after them, limiting the ab- 
sence of the officers to fifteen days." 

Forrest's mind was as busy with the future as with the present. 
The rebuilding of the railroad from Tupelo to Corinth, although 
accredited by General Taylor to Fleming, the military superin- 
tendent of railroads, was clearly the work of this far-sighted com- 
mander, who intended to use it — as he did a few weeks later — in 
transporting his troops in order to throw himself rapidly and un- 
expectedly on Sherman's communications in north Alabama and 
Tennessee. 

It was about this period, on August 7th, 1864, that General 
Forrest was greatly disturbed by a communication received from 
Richmond which foreshadowed an interference with the appoint- 
ment of officers made by him in the various regiments and com- 
panies he had brought out of west Tennessee. Hoping to fore- 
stall the measure, he appealed personally to the President in the 
following comprehensive document : 

" His Excelle7icy Jefferson Davis, President C.S. A. : 

" Sir,— I have the honor to state that I am just in receipt of a letter from 
the Adjutant and Inspector -General's Office, under date of 19th ultimo, 
accompanied by a memorandum of instructions as to the irregularities and 
illegalities occurring in the organization of the various regiments of my com- 
mand, which instructions require the election of field-officers for several of 
the regiments as organized by me at Oxford, Mississippi, in February last. 

462 



AN APPEAL TO THE PRESIDENT 

It is due to myself to state that, in organizing the west Tennessee regiments 
referred to, it was my understanding that elections for field-officers could not 
be held, and that, being made up as they were from the odds and ends of 
some twelve or fifteen reputed commands and of unattached companies and 
squads raised inside the enemy's lines, the field-officers were to be appointed 
by the War Department ; hence, in nominating the field-officers for these 
commands, I was governed by the claims of the parties instrumental in rais- 
ing the troops, also by their ability and merit as officers. Your Excellency is 
aware of the condition of aflfairs as I found them in west Tennessee and 
north Mississippi, and the circumstances of my entering this department, 
and the limited means placed at my command for the accomplishment of 
my mission here. With great labor, and under many difficulties and disad- 
vantages, I succeeded in bringing order out of confusion, and organized and 
placed in the service a majority of the troops now constituting my com- 
mand. The enemy in heavy force is in my front, and any attempt, by elec- 
tions, to fill the field positions of the west Tennessee regiments I am satisfied 
will disorganize my command and be injurious to the service. They are all 
contented, and everything is moving along harmoniously, and an election 
will surely result in the loss of the best field-officers I have, who by strict 
discipline have kept the men together. Many of them have distinguished 
themselves by gallantry in the recent engagements of Tishomingo Creek and 
Harrisburg. and quite a number are now absent, wounded. I have no desire 
to see the rights of any one disregarded. I believe the appointing of field- 
officers, upon proper recommendations, the legal method of supplying field- 
officers of regiments composed of parts of so many different unattached com- 
mands, and now that it has been done and has proved satisfactory to all 
parties, I do hope the appointments will be made as per roster forwarded to 
the department. I should not trouble your Excellency with this matter but 
for the fact that the good of the service and the efficiency of my command, 
and justice to the officers who have served so faithfully, require that I should 
lay this matter before you. I shall, as soon as practicable, forward a detailed 
statement of facts and recommendations relative to all parties referred to 
by the department in its instructions, and do hope that no changes will be 
made in the new commands raised under your authority. At this particular 
time it would be disastrous to change the field-officers of the west Tennessee 
regiments, and it is my firm conviction that to do so at any time will be 
highly injurious. I distinctly disavow any assumption of any power or au- 
thority to make these appointments, but selected the very best men in the 
commands for the positions, and in doing so believed I was acting properly 
and legally, and that the officers nominated and placed in command would 
be appointed to the positions to which they were assigned. Having done 
all, as I conceived, for the best, and having organized a fine command, which 
since its organization has performed more and better duty than perhaps 
any other new cavalry command ever did in the same length of time, I do 
hope that nothing will now be done to destroy its effectiveness or weaken 

463 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

my influence and control over it. I regarded the commands as detached, 
raised under various authorities, at different times and by different parties, 
and that field-officers could only be made by appointment from the War 
Department. 

" I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

"N. B. Forrest, Major-General." 

The position taken by Forrest was thoroughly sustained by the 
report of the inspector - general, which was forwarded to Rich- 
mond, and for the time being his recommendations were re- 
spected. Later, and possibly at the insistence of General Bragg, 
who was at this date in Richmond as military adviser of President 
Davis, and who lost no opportunity to throttle Forrest, the au- 
thorities there disregarded General Forrest's wishes, and as a re- 
sult of the changes which were thus effected, and which Forrest 
conscientiously carried out to the best of his ability, a large num- 
ber of his troops quit the service, and were therefore lost to the 
Confederacy. 

On the 20th of July, General S. D. Lee was transferred from 
this department to the army under General J. B. Hood at Atlanta, 
and, pending the arrival of General Richard Taylor, General Dab- 
ney H. Maury was placed temporarily in charge of the depart- 
ment in which Forrest was operating. 

The small battalion of infantry which was present at Harris- 
burg had been returned to Mobile. Roddey's division in the last 
week of July was despatched to northern Alabama for the pro- 
tection of that section, which was then threatened with a raiding 
expedition from Nashville. The other dismounted troops and 
the cavalry were scattered throughout the prairie region of Mis- 
sissippi, where sustenance could be obtained. A remnant of 
Mabry's brigade had been ordered southward towards Canton to 
repel a raid moving eastward from the Mississippi River. 

Although General A. J. Smith had reported his " defeat of 
Forrest at Tupelo," and the Northern press was filling columns 
with the great exploit, it was early in evidence that Generals Sher- 
man and Grant were not satisfied with the result of his campaign. 
With characteristic discernment the commander of the Army of 
the Tennessee realized that his subordinate had 

" Scotched the snake, not killed it," 
464 



SMITH AGAIN INVADES FORREST'S TERRITORY 

and that Forrest, albeit in a buggy, was still on the rampage. He 
did not hesitate to show his dissatisfaction with the manner of 
General Smith's return to Memphis, with the beaten Confederates 
at his heels, and directed General Washburn to send him back at 
once, with a larger command, if necessary, to engage the attention 
of his old adversary. 

On July 19th General Grant, from City Point, Virginia, tele- 
graphed Sherman : " Smith ought to be instructed to keep a close 
watch on Forrest and not permit him to gather strength and 
move into middle Tennessee." 

Taking his cue from this, Sherman on the next day de- 
spatched to Washburn at Memphis : " Order Smith to keep after 
Forrest all the time. I think a few more days will bring mat- 
ters to a crisis. Johnston is relieved and Hood succeeds to the 
command;" and to General Halleck he says: "A. J. Smith has 
orders to hang on to Forrest, and prevent his coming to Ten- 
nessee." 

When Smith received these urgent orders from headquarters it 
dawned upon him that his victory was not properly appreciated 
by Sherman, and said as much to Washburn, who, on the 23d, 
from Memphis, wired the commander of the Army of the Ten- 
nessee : " General Smith thinks you have a wrong impression in 
regard to his fight. He has returned for lack of supplies. I have 
ordered him to move again against Forrest. He will move as 
soon as he can get ready, unless you think that he had better go 
to Mobile." 

Acting upon the urgent instructions of Sherman, Generals Wash- 
burn and Smith brought all their energies in play to collect a force 
large enough to return at once to the invasion of Forrest's ter- 
ritory. 

At one moment while thus engaged their hearts were gladdened 
with a rumor that the Confederate commander was no more. 
Washburn gave it so much credence that on August 2d he wired 
Sherman : " I have a report that Forrest died some days ago of 
lockjaw." Such news was too good to be kept, and Sherman re- 
peated to Grant: " W^ashburn thinks that Forrest is dead of a 
wound he received in his battle with General Smith." To 
Washburn he next turned with the query : " Is Forrest surely 
dead? If so, tell General Mower I am pledged to him for his 
2 G 465 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

promotion, and if ' Old Abe ' don't make good my promise, then 
General Mower can have my place."* 

Forrest, however, was not yet out of the way, and, although 
Mower had not killed him, ' Old Abe ' made good his promise, for 
on the 1 2th of August Sherman wired Stanton : " Please convey 
to the President my thanks for the commission for General Mower, 
whose task was to kill Forrest. He only crippled him ; he is a 
young and game ofificer." 

The experience General Smith had acquired in his first expedi- 
tion was not without value in his second essay. This time he did 
not intend to be drawn so far away from his base of supply, and 
instead of marching directly overland to assail Forrest on his old 
stamping-ground near Tupelo and in the prairie country, the Fed- 
eral general's first move was to rebuild the railroad from Memphis 
to Holly Springs in Mississippi, from which point he did not in- 
tend to advance any considerable distance, being content to hold 
Forrest engaged from that quarter until he had further extended 
his line of road. 

Early in August Generals Washburn, Smith, Mower, and Grier- 
son had concentrated a heavy force, consisting, according to Gen- 
eral Sherman's despatch of August nth, " of 10,000 infantry and 
4000 cavalry, with 3000 colored troops from Memphis, and in ad- 
dition three Minnesota regiments sent from St. Louis." Moving 
his cavalry overland and his infantry by rail. General Smith by 
the 9th of August had reached the Tallahatchie River between 
Holly Springs and Oxford. 

Fully informed of Smith's movements by General Chalmers, 
who was in immediate command of the troops north of Oxford, 
Forrest made his dispositions accordingly, and, jointly with his 
trusted lieutenant, sent the following communication to the gen- 
eral commanding the department at Meridian : 

" Our scouts report that the enemy is making preparations to move from 
Memphis, Vicksburg, and north Alabama at the same time, and if success- 
ful to concentrate at Selma. There are now 14,000 infantry and cavalry as- 
sembled at La Grange, and they are reported repairing the Mississippi Cen- 
tral railroad. Three regiments of infantry and two of cavalry are reported 
moving from Decatur to Moulton. The communication with Little Rock 

* Official Records, vol. xxxix. part ii. p. 233. 
466 



FULLY INFORMED OF THE ENEMY'S INTENTIONS 

by White River is open, and the troops of Smith reported as going up 
White River have returned to Memphis. Some troops, number unknown, 
have been sent down the river towards Vicksburg. If the enemy moves in 
three columns, as expected, it will be impossible for us to meet him ; and, 
after consultation, Major-General Forrest and I have concluded to recom- 
mend a consolidation of the troops in this department to meet one column. 
The northern column will be the largest ; if we can defeat it the others 
may be easily overtaken and crushed. We have accumulated supplies at 
Grenada and Oxford, so that the cavalry from Jackson can be well subsisted, 
should you think it advisable to move them there. We can subsist our force 
better upon this line than any other, and it is more valuable to the Confed- 
eracy, therefore more important to be defended. The column from Vicks- 
burg could do but little damage before reaching Deraopolis, and if we should 
defeat him here, could by means of the railroad intercept him at Meridian 
on that line. The force moving from Decatur is, as yet, reported small, and 
ought to be checked by the reserves and other troops in Alabama. We beg 
leave, therefore, to suggest for the consideration of the major-general com- 
manding the department that the forces from below be concentrated with 
this command on the northern line; but should he disapprove, we still 
recommend a concentration of our whole force to meet one of the columns. 
We are preparing fortifications here which, if manned by the whole force 
we had here before, may enable us to defeat the enemy. Our effective force 
is 5357. but we are very much crippled in officers. Both of my brigade com- 
manders are wounded, also a brigade commander of General Buford's divi- 
sion, and most of the field-officers of the command were either killed or 
wounded in the late engagement. 

"I am. Colonel, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

"James R. Chalmers, Brigadier-General." 

This letter is given here, because it explains the situation of affairs 
in the department at this juncture, and demonstrates the wonderful 
accuracy of Forrest's knowledge (obtained through his system of 
scouts) of the movements and strength of the enemy. Moreover, 
since the reinforcements were not available, and the Confederate 
leader found himself hard pressed by the overwhelming numbers 
of Generals Washburn, Smith, Grierson, and Hatch, it emphasizes 
the brilliant strategy which he executed within the next few 
weeks, encompassing the defeat of these threatening invasions. 

When General Maury had been placed temporarily in command 
of the department in which Forrest was operating, he had sug- 
gested to his subordinate that the chief object in view was the de- 
fence of the rich farming region of central Mississippi, but with 
excellent judgment gave him the widest discretion. He wrote: 

467 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

"The prairie country appears to me to be the first object of your 
care. I know how disproportionate the forces at present under 
your command are to those which we understand the enemy has, 
but it will be difficult for him to advance far into the country 
while you are before him. I would not, if I could, undertake to 
prescribe to you any plan of operations. I wish you to under- 
stand that I intrust to you the conduct of affairs, and desire only 
to be able to aid you effectively with the means of executing 
your own views." 

Upon receipt of information that the Federal expedition had 
started south from Memphis, Forrest immediately took the field 
in his buggy, ordered ten days' rations prepared for the troops, 
one hundred rounds of ammunition for small arms and two hun- 
dred for the artillery issued, and started at once in the direction 
of Oxford, in Lafayette County, which point was about thirty 
miles south of the terminus of General Smith's railway line at 
Holly Springs. General Chalmers had been ordered to destroy 
any remaining trestles or bridges on the railroad leading south 
from Holly Springs, and to fall back to the Tallahatchie, cross to 
the south side of this stream, and offer as much resistance as possi- 
ble. In obedience to these orders, Chalmers, fighting persistently 
as he retreated, was beaten back to Oxford by the loth of August, 
where he was joined by General Forrest, with Bell's and Neely's 
brigades and Morton's artillery. Chalmers's division, which now 
comprised McCulloch's, Neely's, and Mabry's brigades, was rein- 
forced by Bell's brigade, and was placed in position at Hurricane 
Creek, a small stream which crossed the road from Oxford to 
Holly Springs about eight miles north of the former place. Here 
the Confederates made such stubborn resistance that for three 
days there was almost continuous firing. By nightfall of the 13th 
General Smith had succeeded in throwing a heavy force around 
the flank and threatened the rear of the Confederate general, who 
immediately withdrew his entire force to Oxford. On the 14th of 
this month he reported to General Maury that the enemy in his 
front consisted of eighteen thousand infantry and seven thousand 
cavalry, under Generals Washburn, Smith, and Grierson, and that 
they had forced him back to Oxford. It is clear from the corre- 
spondence of General Forrest, which is given in the official records, 
that he had long since become convinced of his inability, by rea- 

468 



AGAIN IN THE SADDLE 

son of the small force at his command, to cope successfully with 
the superior numbers under Smith and Mower, and had conceived 
a movement which, as daring as it was brilliant, wrought confu- 
sion upon the Federal generals, causing them to abandon the in- 
vasion of Mississippi and retreat to their stronghold at Memphis. 

In a despatch, dated August 8th, to Chalmers, General For- 
rest had inquired as to the facilities for crossing the river at Pa- 
nola, wanting to know definitely how many boats could be obtained 
there. He had now sufficiently recovered from his wound to en- 
able him once more to take the saddle, although, as he said, he 
" had only one foot in the stirrups." 

On the 1 8th of August, selecting two thousand of the best- 
mounted men of his command, and with four pieces of artillery, 
leaving Chalmers in command in the immediate front of the en- 
emy, with orders to make the greatest possible demonstration of 
force, by attacking him vigorously at various points, Forrest, under 
cover of darkness on the night of the i8th, left Oxford, taking a 
direction nearly due west, and by daylight, despite the bad condi- 
tion of the road and the swollen streams, had cleared the right 
wing and was miles away to the rear of Smith without a suspicion 
on the part of his adversary that he had left his front. 

By seven o'clock on the morning of the 20th Forrest had reached 
Senatobia, in Tate County, from which point he sent a courier 
back to Chalmers stating that he had bridged and was crossing 
the Hickahala, and expected to have to go to Quinn's Mills to 
get over the Coldwater. He directed him to " hold the enemy 
hard and press them up so as to engage their whole attention." 
This Chalmers was doing so well that he received the highest 
commendations from his commander. 

The success of the enterprise which Forrest had on hand de- 
pended upon the celerity of his movements. North of Senatobia, 
by reason of the heavy rains which had fallen during the last 
forty-eight hours, and which are common to this part of the coun- 
try in the early weeks of August, the streams ordinarily fordable 
were now " bank-full," and it became necessary to construct tem- 
porary bridges for the rapid passage of the troops and artillery. 
The first obstacle of this nature was encountered at a creek known 
as the Hickahala, a few miles north of Senatobia. There were 
no bridges in all this country, and the only way of crossing the 

469 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

stream was to ferry the men, their accoutrements, the ammunition 
and the artillery, across in a very small boat, the only one obtain- 
able, and then compel the horses to swim. This would require 
at least twelve hours, and such delay would in all probability be 
fatal. The genius of Forrest in surmounting obstacles stood him 
well in hand in this emergency. His quick brain, ever fertile in 
resources, had planned the crossing long before he reached the 
stream. He had sent in advance a detachment of his best-mount- 
ed troops with instructions to pick out some suitable place for a 
crossing, to fell four trees, two on either bank, leaving the stumps 
convenient for the support of cables, and to have cut, twisted 
together, and in place by the time he should have arrived a cable 
made of the heavy grape and muscadine vines which grow in 
great profusion and of unusual size and length in the fertile allu- 
vial bottoms of the Mississippi country. These novel cables were 
all ready when he reached the stream. Twisted around and lashed 
to the stumps on either side, by their weight they curved down 
until they were only two or three feet above the water at the 
middle of the stream. Just under the middle the ferry-boat was 
anchored, and on either side of this a series of cypress logs were 
floated in and fixed at certain distances to add support where, 
by reason of the heavy weight of the flooring and of the troops 
passing over, it would sag in the middle. As the command ap- 
proached within three or four miles of the Hickahala every gin- 
house and cabin was stripped of its flooring, and as each trooper 
rode up he brought on his shoulder his burden of planks. 

Within an hour's time of the arrival of the head of the column 
at this stream, the planks had been laid and the entire command 
had crossed over, the troops dismounting and crossing over in sin- 
gle file, each leading his horse. 

Colonel J. U. Green, who commanded one of Forrest's regiments, 
informs the writer that in crossing on one of these grape-vine pon- 
toons the cables stretched or yielded until the centre was well 
submerged before the last of the troops passed over. Seven miles 
farther north it became necessary to build a similar structure 
over the Coldwater, a stream twice as wide as the Hickahala, and 
here three hours were consumed in crossing. Notwithstanding all 
these hinderances, at dark, on the 20th, Forrest with his command 
had arrived at Hernando, only twenty-five miles distant from Mem- 

470 



PREPARING TO ATTACK MEMPHIS 

phis. On account of the wretched condition of the roads some of 
the artillery horses had given out, and, as these could not be re- 
placed, two of the four guns had been left at Panola. It required 
ten horses to drag each piece and keep up with the cavalry. At 
Hernando, where Forrest had lived for several years in his younger 
days, and where he had many friends, he stopped for a few hours 
to feed and rest, and then pushed on in the direction of Memphis, 
where, at three o'clock Sunday morning, August 2ist, he arrived 
with fifteen hundred of the original two thousand troops which 
had started with him. Fully five hundred horses had given way 
under the great strain to which they had been subjected, and as 
their riders could not secure fresh mounts they were allowed to 
drop out and make their way back to Chalmers. 

For the assault on Memphis, General Forrest had matured his 
plans with great care. His scouts had given him definite infor- 
mation as to the location of three general officers of the United 
States army who were then stationed in the city, and it was his 
purpose to capture these and whatever troops they might have 
immediately about them. The strong fort, which was then heavily 
garrisoned, he had no thought of assailing. 

The headquarters of Major-General C. C. Washburn were on 
Union Street, and the house in which he was sleeping was to be 
surrounded as the most important feature of the attack. Major- 
General Stephen A. Hurlbut made his headquarters at the Gayoso 
House, while General R. P. Buckland was in another quarter of 
the city. 

The troops were now, about an hour before daylight, gathered 
closely around the general and his officers, and the commander 
of each detachment as well as the men received specific instruc- 
tions as to what he was expected to do. The greatest silence 
was enjoined upon all ; not a word was to be spoken, not a shout, 
not a gun to be fired under any circumstances. 

Each detail was to move under its leader directly to the spot 
indicated, without stopping for a moment even to fire at any de- 
tached bodies of Federals who might be encountered en route. 
To his brother, Captain William H. Forrest, and his reckless forty 
scouts, was given the advance, with orders to capture the pickets 
without firing, and as soon as this was done he was to ride at full 
speed, without halting, until he reached the Gayoso House, and 

471 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

then to place guards at all the outlets of that hostelry to pre- 
vent the escape of General Hurlbut or any other Federals quar- 
tered there. 

Colonel Neely was placed in command of a second detachment, 
with orders to attack and engage the attention of a regiment of 
Illinois infantry which was encamped in the suburbs of Memphis 
and near the road over which the Confederates would be com- 
pelled to travel. 

To the gallant Colonel Logwood was given another force, which 
was to follow immediately behind Captain Bill Forrest. Arriving 
at the corner of Main and Shelby streets, he was to station a por- 
tion of his troops there as a reserve, and send a second detach- 
ment to the wharf to capture any transports which might be there. 

Lieutenant-Coionel Jesse Forrest, with his picked detachment, 
was to move straight to the house of General Washburn on 
Union Street, and effect the capture of the commander of the 
department. 

General Forrest, with Colonel T. H. Bell and detachments of 
Newsom's, Russell's, and Barteau's regiments, and the two pieces 
of artillery under Lieutenant Sale, remained in the suburbs in or- 
der to cover the withdrawal of the columns which were to make 
the dash into and out of the city. 

Everything being in readiness, the troops moved quietly for- 
ward just as the first streak of dawn shot up from the eastern sky. 
Approaching a small bridge which spans Cane Creek in the sub- 
urbs of Memphis, Captain Forrest, with ten men well in advance, 
was challenged by the Union sentry. To the question " Who 
goes there?" he replied, " A detachment of the Twelfth Mis- 
souri Cavalry, with rebel prisoners." He was told to "dismount 
and come forward alone on foot." As the doughty captain 
knew he could not be recognized until he had arrived almost in 
touching distance of the unsuspecting sentinel, he replied, "All 
right !" but, instead of dismounting, he rode up, having previously 
directed his men to follow close at his heels. As soon as the dim 
outline of the Federal cavalryman was discernible, Forrest, stick- 
ing spurs to his horse, the animal sprang forward, when, with 
his heavy army -pistol, he knocked the trooper senseless to the 
ground. As the man fell, Captain Forrest dashed forward and 
surprised the reserve pickets, which were some thirty or forty 

472 



ATTACKS MEMPHIS 

yards farther up the road. Unfortunately, one of these was quick 
enough to discharge his gun, and this aroused the second reserves, 
which were farther in the rear. Knowing now that the alarm 
would spread rapidly and that no time was to be lost, General 
Forrest ordered the troops to go in, and the whole Confederate 
force moved forward in a swift run. The excitement of the 
moment, and the eagerness of the men, who were now engaged 
in work which they enjoyed most keenly, was too much for 
their better judgment and lax discipline, and, forgetting the in- 
junction of silence which their commander had placed upon 
them, they began yelling and shouting like so many wild and 
ungovernable Indians. What wonders these men accomplished 
under Forrest ! but what greater wonders they might have 
achieved had he been able to have thoroughly disciplined them ! 
As Captain Forrest swept forward in the direction of the Gayoso 
House he came suddenly upon a Federal battery of six pieces, 
which was posted in an open space right at the side of the street 
on which he was passing. Several of his men dashed in among 
the surprised and demoralized artillerists, who, deserting their 
pieces, took to their heels and sought shelter among the houses 
in the immediate neighborhood. They were followed no farther 
than this, and, unfortunately, the precaution was not taken to spike 
these guns, or in some way to render them useless. Arriving at 
the Gayoso House, Captain Bill, scorning the preliminary cour- 
tesy of dismounting to enter the hotel, rode directly from the 
sidewalk into the office of the hotel, and there gave further in- 
structions to his men, who barred all egress and streamed through 
the corridors in search of their prey. 

Major-General Stephen A. Hurlbut no doubt thanked his stars 
for many a day thereafter for the good-fortune which befell him 
in sleeping elsewhere that night than in his own room in the 
hotel. When Colonel Aleck Chalmers battered in the door of 
his room, he was not at home. Colonel Chalmers for many years 
after the war told the amusing story of how, as he rushed into 
one of these rooms in the Gayoso House, he was met by a beau- 
tiful damsel with dishevelled locks and becoming dishabille, who 
threw her arms about his neck, imploring his protection, which 
he claimed he was only too glad to give if she would not take up 
her arms until regularly exchanged as a prisoner of war. 

473 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

When Lieutenant-Colonel Jesse Forrest, whose duty it was to 
attempt the capture of Major-General Washburn at his head- 
quarters on Union Street, arrived there, he found that that dis- 
tinguished officer had already been warned of the impending dan- 
ger, and, without taking time to arrange his wardrobe, had in his 
" cutty sark " made his escape to Fort Pickering. Lieutenant- 
Colonel Forrest, however, succeeded in capturing one or two 
members of the general's staff before they could follow their 
leader. General Cadwallader C. Washburn was in all probability 
the most astonished Federal soldier in Memphis on the morn- 
ing of August 21, 1864, when just at dawn of day a trooper, sent 
in great haste by the vigilant Colonel Starr, of the Sixth Illinois 
Cavalry, galloped to his house, rapidly dismounted, rushed to the 
door, and in Macduff's heroic style banged upon it with the 
handle of his sabre. Aroused thus unceremoniously, to the in- 
quiry of " What is wanted ?" the trooper might with propriety 
have responded " Your honor," but he did not. In an excited 
tone he told the general that Forrest's cavalry were in possession 
of the town, were rapidly approaching and within sight of his 
house, coming at full- tilt for his capture. The commander-in- 
chief of this department did not for a moment stand upon the 
order of his going, but made his exit through the back door, 
crossed the garden to an alley which was convenient, and then 
after a run of half a mile he was safe in the fort. 

Lieutenant-Colonel W. H.Thurston, of the United States Army, 
who was then stationed in Memphis, was bold enough to say in 
his official report of this affair, that *' the general ran away for a 
safe place in the fort, which was fully a half-mile from his home, 
when he was but three squares away from the provost marshal's 
office; and all this without giving any orders or commands as to 
what should be done by the troops." If Lieutenant-Colonel Jesse 
Forrest did not bring away the general, he did bring away his 
uniform and personal effects, which he delivered as a trophy to 
his elder brother, and these, with his personal compliments. Gen- 
eral Forrest returned by flag of truce to Washburn. With be- 
coming courtesy, which showed his appreciation of the delicate 
attention paid him, some two or three weeks later General Wash- 
burn sent by courier to his friend the enemy a handsome suit 
of Confederate gray which had been made by Forrest's old tailor 

474 



RETREATS SUCCESSFULLY FROM MEMPHIS 

in Memphis, and for which the Confederate general was very 
grateful. 

The detachment which had been sent to surround the house of 
General Buckland also came too late to capture that officer. The 
yells of the Confederates as they rode through the suburbs, and 
the crack of rifles here and there, had attracted the attention of 
the sentry guarding his residence, who immediately awakened the 
general and called his attention to the uproar, whereupon he also 
sought safety in a change of residence. 

The detachment led by Colonel Neely came in contact with a 
regiment of Federal infantry which, aroused by the picket-firing 
in the direction of Cane Creek Bridge, had sprung to their arms 
and were in battle array when the Confederates came in sight. 
As soon as they began firing at Neely's command. General Forrest, 
who was near by with Bell's brigade, seeing the condition of af- 
fairs in that direction, moved forward promptly upon the flank of 
the infantry, and in this movement, coming upon a detachment 
of Union cavalry who were encamped there, charged in among 
them, capturing a number of their horses and some prisoners, 
and putting the rest to flight. As Forrest moved forward, Neely 
also advanced upon the infantry and drove them from their camp. 
These, uniting with the cavalry that had been driven from their 
horses, now took refuge in a large brick building or seminary, 
and opened fire upon the Confederates with considerable annoy- 
ance. Failing in the capture of the distinguished officers for 
whom they had been sent. Colonel Logwood and the two For- 
rests, after breaking open a number of livery-stables and taking 
what horses could be obtained, united their forces within the city 
and started to retrace their steps to rejoin the main column under 
General Forrest. They were soon confronted by the battery of 
six pieces which had been captured earlier, but had not been 
spiked, and which was now manned and ready to be turned upon 
them. Without hesitation the Confederates rode at the guns and 
drove the gunners away ; but as the garrison in Memphis were now 
thoroughly aroused and were running in large detachments to 
plant themselves across the streets in their front, and thus hem 
them in, they could not take the pieces away with them, but rushed 
onward in their retreat. 

General Forrest, greatly chagrined in not having effected the 

475 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

capture of either of the three generals known to be in Memphis 
that morning, withdrew his entire command in the direction of 
Hernando. As they were marching out of town a detachment of 
the Sixth lUinois Cavalry, under Colonel Starr, made a vigorous 
assault upon the Confederate rear-guard, which was commanded 
by General Forrest in person. Having his escort at hand, For- 
rest met the Federal cavalry with a counter-charge, and a sharp 
hand-to-hand encounter ensued, in which, in a personal combat 
with General Forrest, Colonel Starr, the Federal commander, 
was seriously wounded and placed hors de combat. After this 
affair no further pressure was made upon the rear of the retreat- 
ing command, and from Cane Creek Bridge the Confederate com- 
mander sent Major Anderson with a flag of truce and a despatch 
to General Washburn proposing to exchange prisoners ; also in- 
forming him that a number of officers and men had been captured 
and hurried away before they could be properly clad, and requested 
him to send their clothing. Forrest said he would wait at No- 
noonnah Creek for a reply. Arriving at this place. General Wash- 
burn's note was received, stating that, as he had no authority, he 
declined the exchange of prisoners, but that he sent therewith the 
clothing for his men. 

In the afternoon of the 21st of August, General Forrest, with 
his prisoners, reached Hernando, and from there by courier re- 
ported as follows : " I attacked Memphis at four o'clock this 
morning, driving the enemy to his fortifications. We killed and 
captured four hundred, taking their entire camp, with about three 
hundred horses and mules. Washburn and staff escaped in the 
darkness of the early morning, Washburn leaving his clothes 
behind." 

Here he also paroled the prisoners captured at Memphis, direct- 
ing them to return thither, and then proceeded to Panola, which 
place he reached on the 22d of August. From this point he de- 
spatched a courier to Chalmers, urging him : " If the enemy is fall- 
ing back, pursue them hard. Send Buford to capture their forag- 
ing-parties. Keep close to their camp. Order Captain Henderson 
to scout well to their right to ascertain if there is any movement 
this way." He closed this communication by saying he would 
rest with his troops two or three days at Grenada if possible. 

On the 23d of August, General Maury reported that Forrest's 

476 



FEDERAL ACCOUNTS OF ATTACK ON MEMPHIS 

movement in the rear of General Smith had caused him to pause 
in his advance into Mississippi, and on the following day he was 
gratified to receive from Maury a despatch in which he said : 
"You have again saved Mississippi. Come and help Mobile. 
Fort Morgan, after a long and fierce struggle, was captured by 
the enemy yesterday. The attack on the city will be made at 
once. I expect. Will the retreat of the enemy from north Missis- 
sippi enable you to come with any of your force? We are very 
weak." 

Sherman on the 24th of August telegraphed to Washburn : 
" If you get a chance send word to Forrest that I admire his dash 
but not his judgment. The oftener he runs his head against 
Memphis the better. This case illustrates the importance of con- 
verting those armories into regular citadels with loop-holes and 
flanks. See to it." The result showed that the Confederate gen- 
eral had attained fully the object of his strategy, for as soon as 
Washburn's telegram reached Smith at Oxford he immediately 
withdrew his troops across the Tallahatchie in the direction of 
Holly Springs, and on the 29th of August Forrest telegraphed to 
Maury : " Enemy left Holly Springs at two o'clock yesterday, 
marching rapidly in the direction of Memphis and La Grange. 
They say they are ordered to reinforce Sherman." 

Although the Federal generals escaped capture, and the Con- 
federates were in rapid retreat, the greatest consternation pre- 
vailed in Memphis, and in the mind of the commander-in-chief 
there, General Washburn, who immediately took steps to inform 
General Smith at Oxford of the condition of affairs at head- 
quarters, and to insist upon the capture of Forrest's raiders and 
the protection of Memphis. So widespread was the feeling of 
panic in the city that two days after Forrest had left, and, in fact, 
when he was well beyond the Tallahatchie, a general stampede 
was caused by the rumor that he was returning in force. 

Colonel Thurston, inspector-general at this station, in his report 
says: "On the 23d of August the whole town was stampeded at 
about ten o'clock in the morning by a report that Forrest had re- 
turned in force and was again in town. It was the most dis- 
graceful affair I have ever seen, and proves that there is demorali- 
zation and want of confidence by the people in our army, and by 
our army in some of its ofificers. On this day there were no Con- 

477 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

federate troops nearer than Forrest's rear, which was probably not 
less than twenty-five or thirty miles distant, and the alarm was 
caused by some of the troops firing off their guns, which had been 
loaded since Sunday." 

On the 24th of August Washburn reported to Canby : " At day- 
light on Sunday morning, the 2 ist inst., Forrest attacked Memphis. 
The force was led by Forrest in person, and left Smith at Oxford, 
Mississippi, on the evening of the i8th, and marched day and night, 
the distance being about one hundred miles. One-third of his 
force dashed right over the pickets and through two regiments 
without stopping to fight, dividing into three parties, one coming 
to our house (headquarters), another to Gayoso House, where 
Major-General Hurlbut was supposed to be staying, and the third 
to the headquarters of Brigadier-General Buckland, commanding 
district of Memphis. Hurlbut was out of the house that night 
and escaped without molestation, while General Buckland and 
myself were barely able to do so. They were driven out of the 
city, taking about twenty -five private horses and the horses 
belonging to one section of the battery. We had about thirty 
killed and eighty wounded. Smith was instructed to send 1500 
cavalry at once to Panola, and hold the crossing, and come around 
on Forrest's rear. I hope that they will be intercepted and capt- 
ured. Smith has between four and five thousand cavalry with 
him, and in the exhausted condition that Forrest's men and 
horses are in, it would seem that if our cavalry does its duty they 
should not get away." 

General R. P. Buckland reports that he was awakened by loud 
raps upon his front door, the sentinel exclaiming, " General, they 
are after you !" He inquired who were after him, and the an- 
swer came, " The rebels." He says: " I dressed myself as speedi- 
ly as possible and ran to the barracks, where I found the soldiers 
had been alarmed and were collecting in the street. Colonel 
Starr, of the Sixth Illinois Cavalry, informed me that General 
Washburn's headquarters were in possession of the enemy, and 
that the general was undoubtedly captured. He organized all 
the available troops, and marched out towards the Hernando 
road. Forrest's plan was well laid. The morning was exceed- 
ingly foggy, and the state of the atmosphere such that the report 
of small arms, and even artillery, was heard but a short distance. 

478 



WASHBURN'S DESPATCHES TO SMITH 

They passed through the Seventh Wisconsin battery, killing one 
officer and several men, but without disturbing the guns or am- 
munition." 

Colonel George B. Hoge, One Hundred and Thirteenth Illinois, 
says: " When the alarm was given, my entire command was as- 
sembled at the junction of Poplar and Alabama streets. A sec- 
tion of artillery was placed so as to command each of these 
streets. I had detachments of the One Hundred and Eighth, 
One Hundred and Thirteenth, and One Hundred and Twentieth 
Illinois, and Eleventh Missouri regiments, the Fortieth Wiscon- 
sin, and two companies of artillery, the Thirty-ninth Wisconsin, 
Forty-sixth Iowa, and One Hundred and Thirty-seventh Illinois 
Infantry." 

As soon as Forrest was well on his way towards Hernando, 
Washburn hastened to inform General Smith of the attack that 
had been made on him, and to advise him as to the direction of 
Forrest's retreat, urging him to take the necessary steps for the 
discomfiture or capture of his command. His wily enemy, how- 
ever, was not to be so easily entrapped. He had taken the pre- 
caution several hours before he reached Memphis and charged 
into the heart of the city to have the wires leading eastward 
cut, thus delaying any communication with the Union forces at 
Oxford. 

General Washburn says : " As soon as possible on the morning 
of the attack I endeavored to get a despatch through to La 
Grange, to be expressed from there to Major-General Smith, but 
it was found that during the night the wires had been cut be- 
tween CoUierville and Germantown. They were, however, repaired, 
so that by 12 M. the following despatch was sent to General Smith : 
' We were attacked at three o'clock this morning by a force said 
to be led by Forrest in person. The fight is still going on. They 
left Oxford two days ago, and crossed the Tallahatchie at Panola. 
You will at once order all your cavalry to move to intercept them. 
You will move one-half across at Panola, and the rest at Abbe- 
ville. They must be cut off and caught. Move rapidly and 
spare not horse-flesh. Their horses must be much jaded, and they 
can be caught.' " 

This despatch was ordered to be sent from La Grange with an 
escort of one hundred men. It started at one o'clock on that day, 

479 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

but before it left General Washburn sent two other despatches 
in the following order: 

" Major-General A. J. Smith : 

"The enemy has retired on the Hernando road. He has five hundred 
prisoners, but failed to take the battery. I am at a loss to know whether he 
means to cross at Panola or go via Holly Springs. With a force to dispute 
the Panola crossing, and another force crossing at Abbeville and moving 
towards him until they strike his trail, and then following him until over- 
taken, he may be captured. His men and horses will be so much worn 
down that they will be an easy prey. . . . 

" You had better send fifteen hundred cavalry to hold the crossing at and 
above Panola, and send the rest of your cavalry across at Abbeville. If vig- 
orously pressed they can be caught." 

General Washburn asserts that these despatches were received 
by General A. J. Smith at Oxford, between ten and eleven o'clock 
on the morning of the 22d. Moreover, that as soon as it became 
absolutely certain that Forrest would cross at Panola on his way 
out, he notified General Smith by telegram, which he received 
early on Tuesday morning, that Forrest had left Hernando that 
morning, the 22d, intending to cross the Tallahatchie at Panola, 
and that his horses were jaded, and that he would probably cross 
during the night. In case Smith did not intercept him at Panola 
he should catch him between Yocona and Tallahatchie. 

General Washburn further states that Smith, instead of moving 
to Panola, as all of his despatches ordered him to do, sent the 
following despatch to him : 

" From Abbeville, Mississippi, August 24th. 
" Major- General C. C. Washburn : 

"On arriving at Oxford yesterday morning, Brigadier-General Hatch was 
detailed to proceed to Panola and destroy the railroad from that point south 
along the line. Then we heard of Forrest's raid to Memphis, but could not 
believe it. I soon received your despatches of the 21st, and was induced to 
believe from your last telegram and information received at Oxford that 
Forrest would retreat through Holly Springs. I at once ordered the sec- 
ond division of cavalry to this point, with instructions to Hatch to return to 
Abbeville and join the second division, and proceed at once towards New 
Albany and intercept Forrest. I arrived with the infantry command about 
10 A.M. to-day, and find the river booming and our bridge broken down. 
Recent rains in this region have made the roads almost impassable. I hope 
to communicate by telegraph by 12 M." 

480 



GENERAL SMITH CRITICISED 

Washburn in his criticism of Smith's conduct says : " There 
were but two lines of possible retreat for the enemy, one via 
Holly Springs and the other by way of Panola. The Talla- 
hatchie was very high and impassable, except upon the bridge at 
Panola. Had my orders been obeyed, Forrest would have found 
himself penned up between the Coldwater and the Tallahatchie, 
and escape would have been impossible. That Forrest should 
have left our immediate front at Oxford and made this move on 
Memphis without being discovered is somewhat strange. Forrest 
made a forced march in advancing and retreating." 



CHAPTER XVIII 

FORREST'S RAID INTO NORTHERN ALABAMA AND MIDDLE TEN- 
NESSEE, FROM SEPTEMBER l6 TO OCTOBER 6, 1864 

President Davis at Last Realizes the Necessity of Turning Forrest Loose upon Sher- 
man's Communications — Sherman Marches into Northern Alabama and Middle Ten- 
nessee — General Richard Taylor in Command of the Department — His Impressions 
of Forrest at This Time — From Mississippi to Cherokee, Alabama, by Rail — Crosses 
the Tennessee at Colbert's Shoals — Surrounds the Federal Military Post at Athens, 
Alabama, which Surrenders Without a Fight — Capture of a Column of Federals 
from Decatur Coming to the Rescue of Athens — Forrest's Clever Strategy and Bluff 
— Capture of Several Stockades Near Athens — The Federal Forts at Sulphur Trestle 
Surrounded — After a Severe Cannonading They Surrender — Elk River Block- House 
Captured and Bridge Destroyed on the Nashville and Decatur Railroad — The En- 
emy Driven into Pulaski — Colonel W. A. Johnson Wounded — Fully Thirty Thou- 
sand Federal Soldiers Diverted from the Georgia Campaign by Forrest's Move — He 
Returns to the Tennessee River — Buford Makes a Feint on Huntsville — Forrest's 
Rear-Guard, Closely Pressed to the North Bank of the Tennessee, Swim Over to an 
Island and Conceal Themselves in the Cane, and thus Escape Capture — He Dis- 
ciplines a Lieutenant — Colonel D. C. Kelley's Brilliant Fight at Eastport — Forrest 
Asks for a Leave of Absence. 

THE President of the Southern Confederacy had at last appre- 
ciated the necessity of turning Forrest loose upon the 
railroads and other sources of supply of the Army of the 
Tennessee. His conversion, however, was too late for the good 
of the cause which he, above all men, had at heart, and in which 
he demonstrated, in the long years of disaster which fell to his lot, 
a heroism and a loyalty unsurpassed among men. Sherman, in 
his grand strategy, had now reached a point so far away from his 
base that, like Macbeth, who said, 

"I am in blood 
Stept in so far, that, should I wade no more 
Returning were as tedious as go o'er," 

he found it just as easy to go on as to stand still or turn back. 
Earlier in this campaign, when the line of the Chattahoochee had 
been reached, before the ripening corn in middle and eastern 

482 



GENERAL R. TAYLOR, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF 

Georgia offered him the means of sustenance for his troops in a 
march to the sea, the thorough destruction of the Nashville and 
Chattanooga and the Alabama and Tennessee railroads, with a 
closure of the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers, all of which could 
have been done by a proper employment of the genius of Forrest, 
would have insured the defeat of Sherman's plans, and in all prob- 
ability the destruction of his army. But Johnston, the man who 
had so stubbornly and skilfully retarded the advance to Atlanta, 
had been removed, and Hood (for whom Sherman had little respect 
as a military leader) was in his stead. Moreover, all the broad 
fields of Georgia were teeming with ripening corn, and the able com- 
mander of the Army of the Tennessee now knew that he could 
march through Georgia and find enough to support his army on 
the route. There is a despatch in the official records, dated Oc- 
tober I, 1864, from Sherman to Howard, in which he plainly indi- 
cates his intention of cutting loose from Atlanta, and leaving Ten- 
nessee and northern Georgia and Hood's army behind him. This 
strategic move he later carried into execution, with results that 
demonstrated his consummate generalship. '* I have not yet heard 
from Lieutenant-General Grant as to my proposed campaign, but 
it is well for you to bear in mind that if Hood swings over to the 
Alabama road and then tries to get into Tennessee, I may throw 
back to Chattanooga all of Major-General Thomas's men as far 
down as Kingston, and draw forward all else ; send back all cars 
and locomotives ; destroy Atlanta, and make for Savannah or 
Charleston via Milledgeville and Millen." 

General Richard Taylor, a brother-in-law of President Davis, 
had at this date become the commander-in-chief of the Department 
of the Southern States, in which General Forrest was engaged in 
his military operations. Forrest had written to President Davis a 
personal letter, asking permission to move into Tennessee with a 
strong force of cavalry, in order to cut the railroads, interfere with 
Sherman's supplies, and at the same time to divert as many men 
as possible from the army that was pressing Hood so severely in 
Georgia. Upon the 6th of September the President telegraphed 
General Taylor in regard to Forrest's despatch : " General Forrest 
telegraphed me, on the 5th instant, that, if permitted to select 
from his present command four thousand men and six pieces of 
artillery, he thought he could, in middle and west Tennessee, dis- 

483 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

turb the enemy's communications and recruit his command. If 
circumstances permit it, I think it would be well to employ him 
in operations on the enemy's lines of communication, as well as to 
interfere with the transportation of supplies and reinforcements 
to General Sherman's army. Of this you must inform yourself 
and freely exercise your judgment." General Taylor was fully in- 
formed of the importance of this movement, and immediately 
proceeded to exercise his excellent judgment. 

Forrest's strategic move on Memphis, which produced such con- 
sternation in the mind of General Washburn and brought the 
army under Smith back to Memphis in short order, had liberated 
northern Mississippi from Federal occupation. The Confederate 
leader had stationed the various detachments of his command in 
northern Mississippi at points not only convenient to forage and 
supplies, but where they would also be in readiness to meet any 
further incursion into his territory. Making his headquarters at 
Grenada, Chalmers's division was stationed at West Point, on the 
Mobile and Ohio railroad, ready to move to the assistance of Gen- 
eral Maury in Mobile, who had already indicated the probability 
that he would need assistance. The remnant of Mabry's brigade 
had been despatched towards the western portion of the State of 
Mississippi to act in concert with General Wirt Adams in the 
Yazoo country. Brigadier-General H. B. Lyon, since the infantry 
over which he had been temporarily placed in command had been 
returned to Mobile, now rejoined Buford's division, while Colonels 
McCulloch and Rucker, both of whom had been wounded in the 
engagements at Harrisburg and Old Town Creek, emulating the 
example of their commander, although not fully recovered, had 
again reported for duty in the field. 

On the 4th of September, in answer to an urgent call from Gen- 
eral Maury, Forrest had started in the direction of Mobile, to 
take charge of Chalmers's division, which was also en route for 
that destination. On reaching Meridian he was met by General 
Richard Taylor, to whom he had been directed to report when he 
should arrive there, and here for the first time these two soldiers 
came face to face. It is interesting to note what Taylor's " first 
impressions " of Forrest were, as given in his entertaining book. 
Destruction and Reconstruction : 

" An hour later a train from the north, bringing Forrest in ad- 

484 



TAYLOR'S IMPRESSIONS OF FORREST 

vance of his troops, reached Meridian and was stopped, and the 
general, whom I had never seen, came to report. He was a tall, 
stalwart man, with grayish hair, a mild countenance, and slow 
and homely of speech. In few words he was informed that I 
considered Mobile safe for the present, and that all our energies 
must be directed to the relief of Hood's army, then west of At- 
lanta. The only way to accomplish this was to worry Sherman's 
communications north of the Tennessee River, and he must move 
his cavalry in that direction at the earliest moment. 

" To my surprise, Forrest suggested many difficulties, and asked 
many questions : how he was to get over the Tennessee ; how he 
was to get back if pressed by the enemy; how he was to be sup- 
plied ; what should be his line of retreat in certain contingencies ; 
what he was to do with prisoners if any were taken, etc. I began 
to think he had no stomach for the work ; but at last, having iso- 
lated the chances of success from causes of failure, with the care 
of a chemist experimenting in a laboratory, he rose, and asked 
for Fleming, the superintendent of the railway, who was on the 
train by which he had come. Fleming appeared — a little man on 
crutches, but with the energy of a giant — and at once stated what 
he could do in the way of moving supplies on his line, which had 
been repaired up to the Tennessee boundary. Forrest's whole 
manner now changed. In a dozen sharp sentences he told his 
wants, said he would leave a staff-officer to bring up his supplies, 
asked for an engine to take him back north twenty miles to meet 
his troops, informed me he would march with the dawn, and 
hoped to give an account of himself in Tennessee. 

" Moving with great rapidity, he crossed the Tennessee River, 
captured stockades with their garrisons, burned bridges, destroyed 
railways, reached the Cumberland River below Nashville, drove 
away gunboats, captured and destroyed several transports with 
immense stores, and spread alarm over a wide region. The ene- 
my concentrated on him from all directions, but he eluded or de- 
feated their several columns, recrossed the Tennessee, and brought 
off fifteen hundred prisoners and much spoil. Like Give, nature 
made him a great soldier, but he was without the former's ad- 
vantages." 

General Forrest proceeded with his usual energy to prepare for 
this expedition. Buford's division was ordered to Verona, while 

48s 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

the military superintendent of the Mobile and Ohio railroad was 
urged to repair that highway as far as Corinth at once, for the 
transportation of Forrest's forces as far as possible on their route 
towards northern Alabama and middle Tennessee. Chalmers was 
ordered to take General Forrest's place at Grenada, in command 
of all the troops not to accompany him on the expedition. A 
courier was sent to General Roddey in northern Alabama, with 
instructions to repair the Memphis and Charleston railroad, and 
place it in running order from Corinth as far as Cherokee station, 
near the inter- State line of Alabama and Mississippi. Bell's, 
Lyon's, and Rucker's brigades, with the artillery, were concen- 
trated with Buford at Verona. Everything being in readiness, on 
September i6th Forrest moved from Verona with 3542 effectives, 
and on the i8th arrived at Cherokee station, Alabama, which was 
then the eastern terminus of the Memphis and Charleston rail- 
road, and here the following order was issued : 

" I. This entire command will be in readiness to move on the morning of the 
1 6th instant, with four days' cooked rations. They will leave all baggage except 
one blanket and one change of clothing. All ordnance stores will be shipped 
by railroad, and the ordnance trains of the command will assist in transport- 
ing forage, forage and ordnance trains moving together. Three days' rations 
of corn for the command will be carried in the ordnance and forage trains, 

"2. The command will be supplied with one hundred rounds of ammuni- 
tion to the man, forty of which will be taken in the cartridge-boxes, the bal- 
ance to be shipped by railroad. 

" 3. Adjutants will not be allowed to take any more papers than will be 
necessary for active field-service. No desks will be taken, or other boxes or 
baggage allowed to be carried. 

"4. All extra wagons, disabled horses, and baggage will be sent back to 
Sakatonchee Creek, near West Point. One officer from each brigade and 
one man to every ten horses will be sent back with the extra wagons, bag- 
gage, and unserviceable horses. 

" 5. All dismounted men will be ordered to report to Lieutenant-Colonel 
Barnett, for the purpose of being organized into a battalion. 

"6. Lieutenant-Colonel Barnett will organize all dismounted men into a 
battalion, and be in readiness to move on the morning of the i6th instant 
with rations and ammunition as above. 

" 7. A full and complete field report of arms, ammunition, horses, and theii 
condition will be sent to these headquarters by the morning of the 15th in- 
stant."* 

* Forrest's command, only a portion of which accompanied him on thi; 
expedition, was constituted as follows : 

486 



MOVING ON ATHENS, ALABAMA 

After a careful inspection of his command, preparatory to cross- 
ing to the north side of the Tennessee River, the men were pro- 
vided with ammunition and rations, and at daylight on the morn- 
ing of the 2 1 St of September marched out from Cherokee with 
their faces towards the north. The artillery, ordnance, and wagon- 
trains were placed in charge of Major Charles W. Anderson, with 
instructions to be ferried across the Tennessee River at Newport, 
where boats had already been provided for that purpose. Pro- 
ceeding with the troops, General Forrest moved to Ross's ford, at 
Colbert's shoals, and with but little difificulty forded the river, 
which is here about one mile in width. The artillery and wagon 
trains were safely and rapidly ferried over, and joined the main 
body of the command five miles west of Florence, where they 
went into camp. Such was the celerity of movement of the vari- 
ous columns of this expedition that between daylight and dark 
of the 2 1st this command had crossed so formidable a barrier as 
the Tennessee River, and in addition had marched twenty -five 
miles ! 

At daylight on the 22d of September the troops were in the 
saddle and moving rapidly towards Athens, the county seat of 
Limestone County, north Alabama, where was stationed a strong 

Chalmers s Division — McCuUoch's Brigade, Colonel Robert McCulloch 
commanding: Second Missouri Cavalry, Lieutenant-Colonel R. A. McCul- 
loch; Willis's Texas Battalion, Lieutenant-Colonel Leo Willis; Seventh Mis- 
sissippi Cavalry (formerly First Mississippi Partisans), Lieutenant -Colonel 
Samuel M. Hyams ; Fifth Mississippi Cavalry, Major William Gaston Hen- 
derson; Eighth Mississippi Cavalry, Colonel William L. DufT; Eighteenth 
Mississippi Cavalry, Colonel Alexander H. Chalmers. Rucker's Brigade 
(formerly Neely's), Colonel Edward W. Rucker commanding: Forrest's (old) 
Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel D. C. Kelley; Seventh Tennessee, Colonel 
W, L. Duckworth; Fourteenth Tennessee, Colonel J. J. Neely; Fifteenth 
Tennessee, Colonel F. M. Stewart; Twelfth Tennessee, Lieutenant-Colonel 
J. U. Green. 

Buford's Division — Lyon's Brigade, Brigadier-General H. B. Lyon com- 
manding: Third Kentucky Cavalry, Colonel G. A. C, Holt; Seventh Ken- 
tucky, Colonel Ed. Crossland; Eighth Kentucky, Lieutenant -Colonel A. 
R. Shacklett ; Twelfth Kentucky (Faulkner's), Colonel W. W. Faulkner. 
Bell's Brigade, Colonel T. H. Bell commanding; Second Tennessee, Colonel 
C. R. Barteau; Nineteenth Tennessee, Colonel J. F. Newsom ; Twentieth 
Tennessee, Colonel R. M. Russell ; Twenty-first Tennessee (formerly Six- 
teenth), Colonel A. N. Wilson. 

487 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. E. FORREST 

Federal garrison. At Shoal Creek, six miles east of Florence, 
General Forrest was joined by 900 men from Roddey's division, 
under Colonel William A. Johnson, who had previously been 
ordered to cross at Bainbridge and report to him at that point. 
It will be remembered that this gallant soldier had commanded 
the right of Forrest's line, and contributed so much to the defeat 
of Sturgis at Brice's Cross -Roads. Forrest's entire force now 
amounted to 4500 effectives, 400 of whom were as yet dis- 
mounted and were following on foot, with the expectation of 
securing horses by capture from the enemy. The command hav- 
ing halted only a sufficient time to supply Colonel Johnson's 
troops with ammunition, continued their march towards Athens. 
At ten o'clock on the night of the 226, the Twentieth Tennessee 
Cavalry, under Lieutenant-Colonel Jesse A. Forrest (a brother of 
the general), and the Fourteenth Tennessee, under Lieutenant- 
Colonel White, of Kelley's brigade, were sent forward under cover 
of darkness to McDonald's station, a point between Decatur and 
Athens on the Nashville and Decatur railroad (called the Ala- 
bama and Tennessee railroad in 1864), to destroy the railroad- 
track and cut the telegraph-wires, and to capture a corral of gov- 
ernment horses and mules located there. On the morning of the 
23d the main column moved forward, and arrived near Athens late 
in the afternoon of the same day. About a mile from town the 
pickets of the enemy were developed and driven into the village, 
and thence into the fort, from which the garrison opened upon the 
Confederates with two pieces of artillery. When the outposts 
were first fired upon, hearing the whistle of a locomotive coming 
from the direction of Nashville towards Athens, General Forrest 
ordered Colonel C. R. Barteau, with the Second Tennessee, aided 
by Major Charles W. Anderson, who was placed in charge of the 
escort, to move rapidly to the north side of the town and obstruct 
the railroad, so that the train, having passed, could not escape capt- 
ure. They were instructed also to cut the wires in that direction. 
In the prompt and successful execution of this order these two 
efficient officers were fortunate enough to capture about one 
hundred horses which were being run out of Athens in the hope 
of preventing their falling into the hands of the Confederates. 
General Tyree H. Bell at the same time was directed to move 
his brigade to the right and occupy the eastern portion of the 

488 




COI.ONKI, \V. A. JOHNSON 
Commanding Brigade of Forrest's Cavalry 



SURPRISES THE ENEMY AT ATHENS 

suburbs. Meeting with some resistance, Bell, with his well-known 
intrepidity, forced his way through and bivouacked for the night 
in the position designated by his commander. Colonel D. C. 
Kelley, with his brigade, was ordered to move around and oc- 
cupy the southeastern portion of the town, his left resting near 
the railroad and his right in touch with Bell. General Buford, 
with Lyon's brigade, was stationed on the west, his left on the 
Florence and Athens road. Colonel Jesse A. Forrest and Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel White, who had successfully performed the duty 
assigned to them on the previous night and were marching from 
the direction of Decatur towards Athens, halted and deployed be- 
tween the Brown's ferry road and the railroad. Colonel W. A. 
Johnson, with his brigade, was ordered to occupy the street lead- 
ing from the court-house towards Florence. 

So sudden and unexpected was the appearance of General For- 
rest, and so rapid was the disposition of his troops, that before 
escape was possible the Federals found themselves hopelessly 
corralled in the fort and block-houses. Taking advantage of the 
darkness, the Confederate artillery was brought up and placed 
in position where it could bear upon the fort with the greatest 
efficacy. Hudson's battery, commanded by Lieutenant E. S. 
Walton, was placed northeast of the fort ; one section of Morton's 
old battery, commanded by Lieutenant J. M. Mayson, on the west 
side ; another section of this battery, commanded by Lieutenant 
J. W. Brown, on the north; all the artillery being under the com- 
mand of Forrest's chief of artillery. Captain John W. Morton. 

At seven o'clock on the morning of the 24th of September a 
general advance was ordered upon the fort, and at the same time 
the artillery opened upon it. Bell's brigade moved promptly on 
the east and advanced across the railroad in full view of the fort, 
while Generals Buford and Lyon, with the latter's brigade, were 
moving forward at the same moment on the west. Colonel Kelley 
was ordered to remain in his position, to throw out flankers, and 
to hold in check the reinforcements reported to be advancing at 
that time from the direction of Decatur. It was at this moment, 
while making this great display of force, yet without risk to his 
men, with the artillery pouring in a concentrated fire upon the 
garrison, that General Forrest brought into exercise that shrewd- 
ness which in a high degree he possessed, and which, as practised 

489 . 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

by him, contributed so largely to his success. Appreciating the 
fact that it would cost heavily to storm and capture the fort, which 
was wellnigh impregnable, he ordered his troops and the artillery 
to cease firing. 

His chief of staff, Major J. P. Strange, was then sent under a 
flag of truce to the commander of the garrison with the following 

communication : 

" Headquarters Forrest's Cavalry, 
"In the Field, September 24, 1864. 
" Officer Commanding U. S. Forces, Athens, Alabama : 

" I demand an immediate and unconditional surrender of the entire force 
and all government stores and property at this post. I have a sufficient force 
to storm and take your works, and if 1 am forced to do so the responsibility 
of the consequences must rest with you. Should you, however, accept the 
terms, all white soldiers shall be treated as prisoners of war and the negroes 
returned to their masters. A reply is requested immediately. 
" Respectfully, 

" N. B. Forrest, Major-General C. S. Army." 

Forrest's descent upon Athens had been so swift and his move- 
ments made with such secrecy that his presence was not suspected 
until his troops were already in sight and had cut the railway and 
telegraph south of this important position. Colonel Wallace 
Campbell, of the One Hundred and Tenth United States Colored 
Infantry, commanding, reports that on the 23d of September, about 
three o'clock in the afternoon, he was informed by an employ^, 
who had been at work on the railroad about four miles south of 
Athens, that two or three hundred Confederates were tearing up 
the track at that point. He immediately detailed one hundred 
men to report at the station, ready to board the evening train then 
due from Nashville. At four o'clock this detachment was placed on 
the cars, and had proceeded only four miles in the direction of 
Decatur when they ran into the pickets of Colonel Jesse Forrest's 
command, who, it will be remembered, had been sent ahead of the 
main column to destroy the track and telegraph-wires south of 
Athens. After the train had passed through Colonel Forrest's 
line of pickets, the Confederates, knowing it would be stopped 
lower down, where the rails had been removed, hastily obstructed 
the track in its rear. Seeing the trap into which they had fallen, 
the Federals abandoned the train, made a desperate effort to 
return to Athens, and after a brisk skirmish broke through Jesse 

490 



CAPTURES ATHENS BY BLUFF AND STRATEGY 

Forrest's picket-line and retreated in that direction, taking refuge 
at first in a block-house in the suburbs of the town. Here they en- 
gaged the forces under Colonel Forrest for an hour and fifteen min- 
utes, losing three men killed and four wounded, when Colonel Camp- 
bell fled from the block-house and escaped into the fort in Athens. 
Just as the Federal colonel reached his stronghold he learned that 
the Confederates had already captured the commissary buildings 
which were near the railway station and some distance removed 
from the stockade. He learned at the same time that General For- 
rest, with a force estimated at from ten to twelve thousand troops, 
with nine pieces of artillery, had completely invested the town. 
The Confederate leader was playing his old game of magnifying the 
strength of his command. Colonel Campbell immediately ordered 
all the Union forces to take refuge in the fort after attempting to 
destroy what government property he could reach. To the de- 
mand of surrender which Forrest now sent him, he replied : " I 
have the honor to decline your demand of this date." Upon re- 
ceipt of this message from the Federal colonel he sent a reply re- 
questing an interview with Colonel Campbell outside the fort, at 
any place he might designate. This interview was granted, and 
the Federal commander was invited to inspect the troops of Gen- 
eral Forrest's command and judge for himself as to his ability 
with the force at hand to storm the stockade. Forrest assured 
Colonel Campbell that he was actuated by the highest principles 
of humanity in endeavoring to prevent a scene of slaughter which 
he would be unable to control should the place be carried by 
storm. At the same time he impressed his antagonist with the 
idea that he was determined to capture the garrison, no matter at 
what sacrifice. He says in his report that " Colonel Campbell, ac- 
companied by another ofificer, went along our lines, and, seeing the 
number and enthusiasm of the men, he surrendered the fort with 
its entire garrison." Colonel Campbell, says: " I sent Lieutenant- 
Colonel J. A. Dewey and acting assistant Adjutant-General Will- 
iam T. Lewis to receive the Confederate flag of truce. They met 
Major Strange, General Forrest's chief of staff, and Colonel Gal- 
loway, and held conversation with them. They said from the con- 
versation held with General Forrest they knew he was determined 
to take the fort, and if he were compelled to storm it no lives 
would be spared. I refused to comply with the last demand as 

491 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

with the first, when General Forrest sent in a request for a per- 
sonal interview, reading as follows : 

'"Colonel, — I desire an interview with you outside of the fort, at any 
place you may designate, provided it meets with your views. My only object 
is to stop the effusion of blood that must follow the storming of the place. 

"'N. B. Forrest, Major-General.' 

"Accompanied by Lieutenant -Colonel J. A. Dewey, I imme- 
diately met General Forrest. He told me that he was determined 
to take the place, that his force was sufificiently large, and have it 
he would ; and if he was compelled to storm the works, it would 
result in the massacre of the entire garrison. He told me what 
his force was, and said myself and one officer could have the priv- 
ilege of reviewing his force. I returned to the fort, when, after 
consultation with the commanders of various detachments in the 
fort, it was decided that if, after reviewing the force, I found he 
had eight or ten thousand troops, it would be worse than murder to 
attempt to hold the works. I then took Captain B. M. Callender 
and rode round his entire line, thereby satisfying myself and the 
captain accompanying me that there were at least ten thousand 
men and nine pieces of artillery. It was now 1 1 A.M. I had been 
'dilly-dallying* with General Forrest since 8 A.M., expecting rein- 
forcements would be sent from Decatur. Believing they could not 
reach me, I ordered the surrender of the fort." 

The legerdemain by which Forrest made 4500 troops, which 
was the sum total of his command, count up to 10,000 in the eyes 
of his adversary was the result of the sharp practice to which he 
was wont to resort. He had so arranged his troops that he dis- 
played a portion of them dismounted and passed them off as in- 
fantry, and then, when the Federal colonel had passed to another 
detachment in the line of Confederates which was stretched 
around the town, the dismounted troops were made to get on 
their horses and present themselves in another position as cavalry. 
The artillery was also moved about to produce a similar impres- 
sion. In the capture of Streight, near Rome, Georgia, in 1863, 
Forrest had practised this device successfully, and on several 
other occasions since that day. 

The expected reinforcements to which Colonel Campbell refers 
were nearer at hand than he dreamed of at that time, and it was 

492 



THE CAPTURE OF ATHENS COMPLETE 

a stroke of good-fortune that Forrest, by his diplomacy, had driv- 
en him to the wall when he did, and secured the capitulation of 
the garrison before the firing could be heard from the small arms 
of the troops which were then not a mile distant and bravely fight- 
ing their way to his relief. Forrest was well informed while nego- 
tiations were pending that reinforcements were near at hand and 
were endeavoring to cut their way through to the beleaguered 
fort. A detachment of the Eighteenth Michigan and One Hun- 
dred and Second Ohio Infantry, under Lieutenant-Colonel Elliott, 
had been hurried forward from Decatur by train, but had been in- 
tercepted by the Confederates under Colonels Kelley and Jesse 
Forrest and Lieutenant -Colonel Logwood. The Union troops 
had taken a strong position behind a lot of cord-wood piled along 
the railroad, which afforded excellent protection. The Fifteenth 
Tennessee, under Logwood, with two companies of Forrest's reg- 
iment, pluckily charged on the flank of the Federals, and drove 
them from their breastworks, killing several and capturing eight 
prisoners. Beaten from this point of vantage, the Union in- 
fantry, quitting the railroad, made a detour through the woods in 
the hope of avoiding a further collision and of reaching Athens ; 
but by a rapid movement Jesse Forrest, with the remaining eight 
companies of his regiment, placed himself across their path. A 
desperate encounter at close quarters ensued, in which Colonel 
Forrest was severely wounded through the thigh, and a number 
of Confederates were placed hors de combat. While this struggle 
was at its height, reinforcements arrived, and, attacking the Fed- 
erals in flank and rear, the entire force threw down their arms and 
surrendered unconditionally. 

In the negotiations for the surrender of the garrison it was stip- 
ulated that the commissioned officers should be permitted to go to 
Meridian or some other point in Mississippi, and, as soon as Major- 
General Forrest could communicate with Major-General Wash- 
burn, be released on their paroles of honor not to act in opposition 
to the forces of the Confederate States until they were duly ex- 
changed. The officers were also permitted to retain all personal 
property, including horses, saddles, side-arms, and clothing. It 
was agreed that the enlisted men of Colonel Campbell's command 
should be kindly and humanely treated and turned over to the 
Confederate government as prisoners of war, to be disposed 

493 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

of as the War Department of the Confederate States should 
direct. 

There now remained to be captured only two small block-houses 
with their garrisons, and one of these surrendered as soon as a de- 
mand was made ; the other refused, and the artillery immediately 
opened upon it. The second shot penetrated the walls, killing 
two and wounding another of the defenders, whereupon a white 
flag was raised, and these troops also capitulated. Two locomo- 
tives, two trains of cars, a large quantity of government stores 
and ammunition, two pieces of artillery (twelve-pounder howitzers), 
about one thousand stand of small arms, thirty-eight wagons, two 
ambulances, and three hundred horses were the booty of the Con- 
federates in this brilliant affair. The prisoners and captured prop- 
erty, under a suitable escort, were at once started for the south 
side of the Tennessee River under the command of Colonel 
Nixon. Immediately after the surrender of the Federal troops, 
General Forrest moved northward with his command, and four 
miles from the scene of his first encounter another block-house 
was situated, defended by a garrison of thirty men, who surren- 
dered without resistance. The railroad bridge, for the defence of 
which this block-house was built, was destroyed, and the command 
encamped, on the night of the 24th of September, eight miles 
north of Athens. The work of the day was briefly reported to 
General Taylor by courier : " My force captured this place (Athens) 
this morning, with thirteen hundred officers and men, fifty wagons 
and ambulances, five hundred horses, two trains of cars loaded 
with quartermaster's and commissary stores, with a large quantity 
of small arms and two pieces of artillery. My troops in fine 
spirits. My loss, five killed and twenty-five wounded." 

With all this important business pressing upon him, General 
Forrest was not unmindful of the interests of his old department 
in northern Mississippi. He wrote General Taylor that he had 
received information which led him to believe that another move 
from Memphis towards the prairie country was under considera- 
tion, and that in order to keep them as far away from Corinth as 
possible he had directed Chalmers to destroy all the trestles and 
bridges along the line of the Memphis and Charleston railroad 
from La Grange to a point as near Memphis as he could reach. 

Early on the morning of the 25th the command moved upon 

494 



CAPTURE OF SULPHUR BRANCH TRESTLE 



• the heavy stockade at Sulphur Springs trestle, where the pickets 
were driven in and the place soon invested. There were here two 
block-houses and a formidable fort situated upon an eminence, all 
strongly garrisoned and thoroughly well protected by the art of 
the engineer, as this was considered one of the most important 
bridges on the Alabama and Tennessee railroad. At a considera- 
ble distance from the fort, yet within peach of his long-range guns, 
Forrest noticed an elevation which would enable him to command 
the most important of the Federal defences, and here he placed 
the two heavy Parrott guns of Hudson's battery, commanded by 
Lieutenant E. S. Walton ; another section of Ferrell's battery, and 
the two sections of Morton's old battery — all in command of Cap- 
tain John W. Morton — were placed on different sides of the Fed- 
eral stockade. These dispositions were quickly made, and the 
guns opened without the prelude of a demand for surrender. 
Under cover of the artillery, General Buford moved forward with 
alacrity, while Colonel Kelley's brigade was led by this gallant 
officer in a rush across an exposed clearing to a position where 
his men could use their rifles with great effect. In this ad- 
vance several of Kelley's troopers were killed and wounded, and 
\ the colonel's horse fell dead beneath him. Having his troops in 
I position, so accurate was the fire of Colonel Kelley's men that the 
i enemy scarcely dared to raise their heads above their works. At 
' the same time the artillery from four different points poured in 
such a concentrated and destructive stream of shell that the gar- 
rison was thrown into a state of great consternation and suffered 
tremendous loss. In a very short while no resistance whatever 
was offered by the Union forces within the fort, observing which, 
Forrest says : " I deemed this an appropriate occasion to demand 
a surrender, and sent a flag of truce for that purpose. After a 
short parley with Colonel J. B. Minnis, the commanding officer, 
the fort surrendered. The enemy suffered severely in this assault. 
The colonel (Lathrop) commanding was killed early in the fight. 
Almost every house was perforated with shell, and the dead lay 
thick along the works of the fort. The fruits of this victory con- 
sist, besides the prisoners, of seven hundred stands of small arms, 
two pieces of artillery, three ambulances, sixteen wagons, three 
hundred cavalry horses and equipments, medical, quartermaster's, 
and commissary stores. The trestle-work at this place was 

495 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

seventy-two feet high and three hundred feet long, and defended 
by two large block-houses, all of which were consumed by fire. 
The prisoners were turned over to Colonel Logwood, who started 
with them to the Tennessee River." 

The number of prisoners captured here is incorrectly stated in 
the official reports. Captain H. T. Hanks, of Company C, Fif- 
teenth Tennessee, Colonel Logwood's regiment, was placed in 
command of these prisoners immediately after their capture, and 
personally made a careful roster of the prisoners, a copy of which 
he retained, and which was reported to General Forrest's adjutant, 
showing 973 captured Federals.* 

While the fight at Sulphur Branch trestle was in progress, Col- 
onel George Spalding, of the Twelfth Tennessee Union Cavalry, 
was marching to the reinforcement of the beleaguered Federals, 
but concluded after approaching within sound of the fire to retrace 
his steps to a safer quarter. He reports : " In accordance with 
orders from General Starkweather I moved about 3 A.M. on the 
25th for Elk River bridge. I was ordered to assume command 
of all the forces between Sulphur Branch and Elk River, I ar- 
rived at Elk River about 8 A.M. on the 25th, and as soon as the 
horses of the command were fed I moved to the support of Sul- 
phur Branch, the troops at that place being very hard pressed. I 
had eight hundred men, and arrived near the trestle at 1 1 A.M. on 
the 25th and found the enemy in strong force. I engaged them 
immediately with my small but gallant force, and after fighting 
about twenty minutes I learned that the fort near the trestle had 
surrendered. I therefore deemed it prudent to withdraw to Elk 
River." 

It was to have been expected that Forrest's sudden appearance 
in northern Alabama and middle Tennessee would excite consid- 
erable concern at the headquarters of the commanders of the 
armies of the Potomac and of the Tennessee. Major -General 
Rousseau, on the 25th of September, had informed his immediate 
superior (Thomas) that Forrest was tearing up the track and burn- 
ing block-houses as he went, and playing the mischief generally : 
"Despatches just received indicate that this afternoon the forces 

* Diary of Captain H. T. Hanks, of Ripley, Tennessee, in possession of the 
author. 

496, 



iFFECT OF FORREST'S INVASION OF ALABAMA 

it Sulphur Branch trestle, consisting principally of dismounted 
nen from the Ninth and Tenth Indiana Cavalry, eight hundred 
[itrong, with two pieces of artillery, and in a fort, surrendered to 
"orrest, who appears to be tearing up the track and capturing 
)lock- houses and forts as he goes. Rebel forces were reported 
idvancing on Elk River bridge. General Croxton left Franklin 
vith brigade of cavalry at daylight this morning. I have sent by 
rain to Pulaski thirteen hundred cavalry and a battery, and will 
ollow in an hour with all the other force that can be spared from 
iere. Troops sent to reinforce the Nashville and Chattanooga 
oad should report to General Milroy at Tullahoma, as he has 
uU instructions where to place the men." 

It is also evident that Forrest's invasion had seriously interfered 
vith the grand strategy of Grant and Sherman, as shown from the 
ollowing despatches of that day on record. On the 26th of Sep- 
ember, from City Point, Grant telegraphed Sherman : "It will be 
)etter to drive Forrest from middle Tennessee as a first step, and 
lo anything else that you may feel your force sufficient for "; and 
Sherman answered : " I have your despatch of to-day. Have al- 
eady sent one division (General Newton's) to Chattanooga, and 
mother (Corse's) to Rome. Our armies are much reduced, and 
f I send back more I will not be able to tJir eaten Georgia much* 
There are men enough to the rear to whip Forrest, but they are 
lecessarily scattered to defend the road. Can't you expedite the 
;ending to Nashville of the recruits that are in Indiana and Ohio? 
They could occupy the forts. Forrest is now lieutenant-general 
md commands all the enemy's cavalry." 

From these despatches some idea may be formed of the effect 
uch a movement by Forrest, as suggested by Generals Johnston 
md Cobb and Governor Brown of Georgia, would have had upon 
Sherman's advance to Atlanta earlier in the campaign. 

The morning of September 29th found Forrest pushing still 
arther north with his raiders. With the horses captured at Athens 
ind Sulphur Branch trestle he was now able not only to mount 
:he detachment of his men which had accompanied the expedition 
:)n foot, but also to supply those whose horses had given out. 
jeneral Buford, with a portion of the command, was ordered to 

* Italics added. 
2 I 497 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

follow along the line of the railroad as far as Elk River, and in so 
doing he came upon a block-house which had been evacuated by 
the enemy. This he destroyed, together with the extensive bridge 
across Elk River, and the long trestle which approached it from 
one side. With the main column, General Forrest marched to 
Elkton, and thence to a government corral at Brown's plantation, 
near Pulaski, where he captured some two thousand negroes and 
a large amount of commissary stores and medical supplies. For 
the first time in many months the Confederate troopers enjoyed 
the luxury of as much sugar and " sure enough " coffee as they 
wanted. 

Forrest says in his report : " Here I issued to my entire com- 
mand several days' rations, distributing among the troops as much 
sugar and coffee as they needed. The negroes were all ragged 
and dirty, and many seemed in absolute want. I ordered them 
to remove their clothing and bedclothes from the miserable hovels 
in which they lived, and then burned up this den of wretchedness. 
Nearly two hundred houses were thus consumed." 

Colonel Spalding, who had withdrawn from in front of Sulphur 
Branch trestle while Forrest was hammering away at the garrison 
with his artillery, had retreated to the Elk River stockade, and 
placed his men in the block-houses and fort there, but later, as Bu- 
ford approached, had concluded to abandon this position and move 
still farther towards Pulaski. He says: "At 3 A.M. on the 26th, rein- 
forcements not having arrived, and the enemy having driven in 
my pickets, left and front, I deemed it necessary to move my cav- 
alry out of such a position as soon as possible. Before morning I 
sent for the officers commanding the colored troops at Elk River 
bridge, and ordered them to hold the block-houses at all hazards ; 
and also exhibited the despatches in regard to reinforcements. I 
told them I would be obliged to withdraw my cavalry or Forrest 
would have me surrounded before daylight. They promised to 
hold the block-houses until they were knocked to pieces. I then 
moved off gently in the direction of Pulaski, until daybreak, when 
I halted to learn the location of the country. To my great sur- 
prise I found that the negro soldiers and their officers whom I 
had left to hold the bridge had abandoned the stockade, and had 
been in advance of my cavalry all the morning, having evacuated 
the stockades without firing a shot. I arrested all of my colored 

498 




COLONEL I). C. KELLEY 

[ Forrest's Old Regiment] 

Commanding Brigade, Forrest's Cavalry 



DRIVING THE ENEMY INTO PULASKI 

soldiers, and sent them under guard to Richland Creek bridge, 
that being the nearest block-house. At Richland Creek I found 
that the officer in charge of the block -houses had ordered the 
colored soldiers to pack their knapsacks, preparatory to a move to 
Pulaski. I immediately sent directions to the captain in command 
to make a stubborn resistance, and also stated that I would sup- 
port him, and shoot every officer and soldier that I found desert- 
ing his post." Neither the colonel's orders nor threats availed, for 
after a short resistance the garrison of fifty men surrendered, 
after which the Confederates crossed the creek and encamped for 
the night ten miles from Pulaski. From this point Forrest re- 
ported to General Taylor: " I succeeded yesterday in capturing 
three block-houses and the fort at Elk River, with about fifty 
prisoners, without the loss of a man, and have entirely destroyed 
the railroad from Decatur to Pulaski, and five large railroad bridges, 
which will require sixty days to replace." 

On the 27th Buford's division, moving along the railroad towards 
Pulaski, was thrown forward, while Kelley and Johnson's brigades 
were ordered to proceed by a parallel route in the same direction. 
Six miles from Pulaski the advance-guard of Forrest's command 
collided with a heavy force of the Federals and was driven back. 
General Buford hurried forward with his division, and, notwith- 
standing the strong position occupied by the enemy, attacked vig- 
orously. Resisting every inch of ground with great stubbornness, 
the Federals gradually retired to within three miles of the town, 
where they made a still more desperate and determined stand. 
Colonel Kelley now occupied the extreme Confederate left, 
Johnson the centre, and General Buford the right, and the en- 
gagement soon became general. The Union commander, with 
great boldness, extended his right and advanced it for the purpose 
of enfilading Forrest's troops upon the left of the Confederate 
line ; but General Forrest, making his accustomed excellent use of 
the artillery, defeated this effort, breaking their line at this point, 
upon which he immediately ordered a charge, and the Federals 
gave way precipitately. In this spirited affair Colonel Johnson 
received a severe wound through the knee-joint, from which he 
suffered greatly to the time of his death, some twenty years after 
the war. Retreating in haste, the Union troops were closely pur- 
sued into Pulaski and behind their breastworks. It was one 

499 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

o'clock in the afternoon when this was accomplished. Placing 
himself at the head of his escort, General Forrest moved to the 
right and rear of the Federal position in order to make a careful 
reconnaissance, in which he satisfied himself that the Union forces 
were too numerous and too well posted to justify an assault. Re- 
maining in their front until nightfall, and manoeuvring his troops 
as if bent upon a further attack, the Confederate leader then or- 
dered camp-fires to be built for the purpose of deceiving the Fed- 
eral general. Leaving pickets so placed as to notify him of any 
advance on the part of the Union forces. General Forrest, under 
cover of darkness withdrew, and eight miles from Pulaski biv- 
ouacked for the night. Just before retreating. Colonel Wheeler, 
with a detachment of about three hundred men, was ordered to 
proceed north of the town and destroy the railroad and telegraph 
line between Pulaski and Columbia, which duty he faithfully and 
successfully performed, burning at the same time a large supply 
of wood intended for the use of the locomotives. 

From here Forrest reported to General Taylor, on the 27th : 
" I have driven the enemy, after fighting all day, into his fortifica- 
tions at this place, and find General Rousseau with a heavy force 
well fortified. I will move to the Nashville and Chattanooga rail- 
road. My loss to-day about one hundred ; enemy's much heavier, 
having contested ground for several miles. Enemy concentrating 
heavily against me." 

On the 28th Forrest had reached Fayetteville, and from this 
place ordered Captain Boone, with twenty picked men of the es- 
cort, to proceed as rapidly as possible to the Nashville and Chatta- 
nooga railroad, at some point north of Tullahoma, and there to cut 
the telegraph-wires and tear up the rails. At the same time. Cap- 
tain Kelleher was detailed with thirty men of the Twelfth Ken- 
tucky to strike this same railroad south of Tullahoma, and also to 
remove some of the rails and destroy the telegraph-wires. 

On September 29th General Forrest moved towards Tullahoma 
with the main column, but, arriving at Mulberry, his scouts in- 
formed him that the enemy were in heavy force and strongly post- 
ed in the town and along the railroad, and that heavy columns of 
reinforcements were coming by train from Chattanooga and Nash- 
ville. 

General Sherman had wired Grant on the 28th : " Forrest is in 

500 



GENERAL SHERMAN'S ALARM 

middle Tennessee, and will get on my main road to-night or to- 
morrow," which accurate forecast gives strong evidence of the 
acumen of this distinguished soldier. The information of For- 
rest's scouts was correct. A large army of Federals, under Gen- 
erals Thomas, Rousseau, Schofield, Steedman, Croxton, Webster, 
Granger, Washburn, and A. J. Smith, was gathering in upon him. 
Fully thirty thousand men were for the time being diverted from 
the grand purpose of the Georgia campaign, and this whole force. 
General Thomas says, " should press Forrest to the death, keep- 
ing your troops well in hand and holding them to the work. 
I do not think that we shall ever have a better chance than this." 

Sherman had wired General Webster at Nashville : " Rousseau 
should collect all the force he can, and move straight for Pulaski 
and Florence. Call forward from Kentucky any troops that can 
be spared there, and hold all that come from the rear, until For- 
rest is disposed of. Caution Rousseau to unite his movable force 
and let it not be picked up in detail. Ask Rosecrans for me if 
he cannot spare A. J. Smith, and explain to him that he may be 
needed. I wanted him for this very contingency, which I fore- 
saw. Use my name and concentrate at Nashville all the men you 
can. Recall Generals Steedman and Schofield if you know where 
they are. The policy should be, small but well-commanded bodies 
in the block-houses, and a movable force to act straight against 
Forrest, who must scatter for forage." 

General Thomas's report says : " As Forrest changed the scene 
of his operations from the Decatur railroad over to the one lead- 
ing to Chattanooga, General Rousseau moved rapidly by rail 
around through Nashville to Tullahoma, and prepared for his re- 
ception. On the same day, 5000 men under General J. B. Steed- 
man crossed north of the Tennessee River from the direction of 
Chattanooga. Newton's division was ordered from Atlanta on 
the 26th of September, and Morgan's corps started on the 29th 
of September to reinforce the troops operating against Forrest." 
In this report General Thomas speaks of Forrest and his com- 
mand as " an enthusiastic cavalry command led by one of the 
boldest and most successful commanders of the rebel army." 

On the 28th Sherman despatched Grant : " I send back to 
Stevenson and Decherd, General Thomas to look to Tennessee, 
and have ordered a brigade of the Army of the Tennessee up to 

501 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

Eastport, and the cavalry across to that place from Memphis, to 
operate against the flank of any force going into Tennessee by 
way of the fords near Florence. Forrest has got into middle 
Tennessee, and will, I feel certain, get on my main road to-night 
or to-morrow." 

Again on this day he telegraphed to General Webster at Nash- 
ville : " General Grant telegraphs me that he has ordered many 
troops to Nashville. I want you to recall General Burbridge and 
concentrate all the troops possible to push Forrest. I send Gen- 
eral Thomas up to Stevenson to work from this direction. I can 
hold Atlanta and my communications back to Chattanooga." 

This was followed by a second despatch, which says : " I will 
send up the road to-night another division, and want you to call 
forward from the rear all you can get, to operate in Forrest's rear." 

To Granger the wily Sherman, who gave his personal attention 
to the smallest details of his campaign, telegraphed that he should 
drive any squads of Forrest's men across the Elk and threaten the 
fords at Lamb's and Elkton, and act in concert with Rousseau. 
" Keep your surplus men so as to move quick and to strike For- 
rest's line of retreat or communication." 

On the 29th of September Sherman telegraphed to Halleck : 
" I take it for granted that Forrest will cut our road, but I think 
we can prevent his making a serious lodgment. His cavalry will 
travel one hundred miles in less time than ours will ten. I have 
sent two divisions up to Chattanooga and one to Rome, and 
Thomas started to-day to clear out Tennessee, but our road 
should be watched from the rear, and I am glad General Grant 
has ordered reserves for me to Nashville. I can whip his infan- 
try, but his cavalry is to be feared!' 

To Major-General Thomas, on the 29th of September, he says : 
" If Forrest is about the tunnel and Decherd you must look out 
for him coming down by the University and Battle Creek to Ste- 
venson and Bridgeport. General Granger should open communi- 
cation with Rousseau at Pulaski, even if he has to risk a fight, for 
Forrest will only leave a detachment at Elkton or Prospect." 

To General Elliott, chief of cavalry. Department of the Cum- 
berland, on the same date he telegraphed : " Our cavalry must do 
more, for it is strange Forrest and Wheeler should circle around 
us thus. We should at least make ten miles to his hundred." 

502 



ANXIETY AND ACTIVITY OF THE ENEMY 

To Granger a second warning : " A strong division has gone up 
the road, and will act against Forrest. Don't scatter too much 
or try to hold too many points. We will have some heavy rein- 
forcements from the North." 

To General Ammen, commanding district of east Tennessee, he 
despatched : " Recall General Burbridge with his forces, to come 
to Nashville." 

On the 29th, Stanton, Secretary of War, telegraphed the Gov- 
ernor of Michigan : " There is urgent need that every enlisted 
man be hurried forward to Nashville, to guard General Sherman's 
communications, without an hour's delay."* 

Stanton had been stirred up by the telegram received this day by 
Thomas from Rousseau : " Forrest struck the road, and destroyed 
it thoroughly from Athens to within a few miles of Pulaski. He 
will not leave until he has thoroughly destroyed the railroad, un- 
less killed or captured. His force is an effective one, and amounts 
to six or seven thousand men, with artillery." 

On the 30th of September Sherman telegraphs Thomas to 
" push right at Forrest with as heavy a force as you can get and 
as soon as possible. If you can turn him towards Lamb's ferry, 
Granger should hold him in check until the infantry can get up. 
We will never have a better chance at him than now. I will 
watch Hood here." 

To General Cox, at Decatur, Sherman says : " I know that des- 
perate efforts will be made to render our roads useless. Forrest 
is in middle Tennessee, but I think will have his hands full, for I 
have sent up two divisions of Thomas's, and Thomas went up 
himself yesterday." 

Rousseau summed up the situation to Sherman as follows : 
" Forrest struck the road at Athens, and destroyed it to within a 
few miles of Pulaski, where I had repulsed him on the 27th instant. 
He is here to stay, unless driven back and routed by a superior 
cavalry force. Infantry can cause him to change camp, but can- 
not drive him out of the State. Forrest's movements are much 
more cautious than formerly. He has attacked no place held by 
white men, but every post held by colored troops has been taken, 
and his destruction of railroad was most thorough. I have here 

* Official Records, vol. xxxix. part ii. p. 531. 
503 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

about three thousand cavalry, not enough to fight him without 
support. This is much more than a raid ; I regard it as a for- 
midable invasion, the object of which is to destroy our lines, and 
he will surely do it unless met by a large cavalry force, and killed, 
captured, or routed. The cavalry, supported by infantry, can fight 
and defeat him, but he must be caught. He will not give battle 
unless he chooses to do so." 

With all this concentration against him, it was wisdom on the 
part of Forrest to call a halt. At Athens, Sulphur Branch trestle, 
and Pulaski, and the other small engagements, he had expended 
nearly all of his artillery ammunition, and his force had been con- 
siderably depleted by the large details sent back to guard prison- 
ers and take care of the captured property sent south. He there- 
fore abandoned for the present any idea of destroying extensively 
the Nashville and Chattanooga railroad. General Buford, with a 
portion of his division and Kelley's and Johnson's brigades, was 
ordered to proceed in the direction of Huntsville, and along the 
line of the Memphis and Charleston railroad from Huntsville to 
Decatur, tearing up the track and destroying the trestles and 
bridges. With the remainder of his troops, consisting of Lyon's 
and Bell's brigades, the Seventh Tennessee, and Forrest's old 
regiment. General Forrest in person, moving to the right of Shelby- 
ville, and by an obscure, circuitous route to Lewisburg, reached 
the latter place at twelve o'clock on the 30th of September and 
encamped that night on the north side of Duck River. On the 
1st of October he reached Spring Hill, captured at that place 
some government horses and wagons, and from thence proceed- 
ed in the direction of Columbia. At Spring Hill the telegraph- 
wires were tapped and important information secured in regard to 
the movements of various bodies of troops sent to intercept the 
Confederates. Forrest also took occasion to send to the Federal 
commander of this department (General Rousseau) a series of de- 
spatches tending to mislead him in regard to his own line of 
march. These despatches were signed by the Federal com- 
mander in the field, and stated that Forrest was still destroying 
the railroad from Nashville to Decatur. 

Twelve miles from Columbia he captured four block-houses and 
their garrisons of one hundred and twenty men. The block- 
houses, a large government saw- mill, and three railroad-bridges 

504 



PREPARING TO CROSS THE TENNESSEE RIVER 

were burned. A fifth block-house was encountered, but the plucky 
commander declined to surrender; and as General Forrest had no 
artillery with him at this time, all the ordnance having been de- 
spatched south with Buford and Kelley, it became necessary to call 
for volunteers to attempt the destruction of the bridge which was so 
resolutely guarded by this small but formidable garrison. Bundles 
of dry wood saturated with turpentine were prepared, and with 
these the daring men -who undertook the destruction of this tres- 
tle, protected by sharp-shooters favorably posted by Forrest, 
crawled along the edge of the stream under shelter of the bluff 
bank nearest to the Federals, and, placing their kindling-wood 
and combustible material upon the wood -work of the bridge, 
quickly ignited it and made their escape, fortunately without 
loss. The firing was still continued in order to prevent a sortie 
on the part of the garrison to extinguish the conflagration until 
the bridge was destroyed. 

On the morning of the 2d General Forrest continued his march 
upon Columbia, and when within six miles of the town a detach- 
ment under Colonel Wheeler was sent in advance to drive in the 
enemy's pickets, while Bell's brigade proceeded to invest the town 
on the northern side, with Lyon on the west. Having convinced 
himself by a careful reconnaissance that the place was heavily 
garris*^ ned, and being without artillery, he made no further at- 
temj. t to take it by assault, but withdrew his troops and encamped 
for the night at Mount Pleasant. On the 3d of October, moving 
now with all possible celerity in the direction of the Tennessee 
River to escape the Federal columns that were concentrating in that 
direction to prevent his escape, he camped on the night of the 3d at 
Lawrenceburg. The march southward was continued all day on the 
4th, and on the 5th he reached Florence, where he found the river, 
which had been forded two weeks before by the troops, so swol- 
len by recent rains that it could no longer be crossed on horseback. 
General Buford, who, it will be remembered, had been detached in 
front of Pulaski and ordered to make a feint upon Huntsville and 
Athens and proceed thence rapidly to Colbert ferry on the Ten- 
nessee River, had arrived at Florence thirty-six hours ahead of 
Forrest, and had already ferried the artillery wagons and a large 
portion of his own command safely to the south bank of this 
stream. There were only three ordinary ferryboats which could 

505 ^? 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

be obtained, and these were kept going night and day transport- 
ing the men, ammunition, guns, and saddles, and the weaker horses, 
which from their run-down condition would be less able to swim 
the river should this become necessary on the near approach of 
the pursuing Federals. On the 6th, hearing that the Federals in 
force had already arrived in Athens, and in two columns were 
advancing towards his place of crossing on the Tennessee River, 
General Forrest sent a detachment of troops under Colonel Windes 
of Roddey's division to Shoal Creek, to contest the advance of the 
enemy there, with orders to hold him back as long as possible, 
and, when beaten, to retreat in a direction down the river in 
the hope of decoying the Union forces in that direction. The 
troops under Colonel Windes were reinforced a few hours later by 
two regiments of Bell's brigade, and, upon their arrival at Shoal 
Creek, Windes was directed to lead his detachment on the flank 
and rear of the approaching column of the enemy in order to make 
a diversion in that direction. These troops so thoroughly per- 
formed the work which was intrusted to them that it was not until 
the 8th of October that they were driven back, and the head of 
the Federal column entered the town of Florence. As there were 
still more than a thousand of Forrest's men on the northern bank 
of the river (in addition to the detachment of Bell's brigade and 
Colonel Windes' troops), the situation, with an overwhelming force 
of the pursuing Federals almost in sight, was indeed precarious ; 
but Forrest's fertile brain had proved itself equal to more desper- 
ate emergencies than this, and did not fail him in this crisis. A 
few miles dowii the Tennessee River from the point where he had 
been crossing, there was situated in this stream a long island, cov- 
ered with an almost impenetrable growth of cane, and, in addition, 
heavy oak and hickory timber. The slough, or portion of the river 
between the mainland and the northern shore of the island, was 
not more than two hundred feet in width. At the upper end of 
the island sand and drift-wood had accumulated, and while along 
the entire northern shore the bluff was so steep that men and 
horses could only with great difficulty ascend it, at this point the 
water was shallow and the bank sloped gradually to the edge of 
the cane and timber. Moving his troops rapidly to a point on 
the river-bank somewhat above the upper end of the island, the 
ferryboats were dropped down with the current, the saddles and 

506 



HOW THE TENNESSEE WAS CROSSED 

accoutrements were stripped from the animals, piled into the boats 
in great haste, and ferried over to the southern shore of the island, 
where the boats could not be seen from the north bank of the 
Tennessee. The horses were then led close to the edge of the 
steep bluff and pushed into the water, tumbling down fifteen or 
twenty feet into the stream. One or two of these, with halters 
attached, were then caught, and the strap held by a trooper in 
a skiff, which was rowed to the upper point of the island. The 
other horses, as fast as they were thrown into the stream, followed 
the pilots which were being towed across, and within an hour's 
time, with the loss of six horses, the men and animals had landed 
on the island, had made their way into the depths of the cane- 
brakes, and were safely hidden along the southern shore. Un- 
observed by the enemy who a few hours later were lining the 
northern bank, the ferriage was continued to the southern 
bank of the Tennessee River for two days and nights, when all 
the troops were safely over. Throughout these busy days and 
nights Forrest was one of the most indefatigable of workers. 
Nothing seemed to tire him, and he had little patience with any 
man who showed a disposition to shirk. After having reached the 
island in safety, although it was quite cold, the men were not al- 
lowed to build fires for fear the smoke might attract the attention 
of the enemy and lead to their discovery. Several detachments 
on picket duty had been left along the northern bank of the 
island, to give timely notice in case an attempt should be made by 
the Federals to cross the slough. As the last boat-loads were about 
ready to put out, these detachments were called in ; but in order 
to be sure that no men were left, Forrest in person made a tour of 
the outposts. Coming upon four troopers who had been over- 
looked, and who were thus saved from capture by his precaution, 
the general, stalking in among them, said : " I thought I would 
catch some of you damned fools loafing back here in the cane as 
if nothing was going on ; if you don't want to get left all winter 
on this island you had better come along with me ; the last boat 
is going over right away." A survivor of this incident* states : 
" When we reached the boat we were all made to take our turn at 
the oars and poles, and do our share of the work in ferrying across 

* Dr. Z. T. Bundy, of Texas. Manuscripts in possession of the author. 

507 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

the river. The general, evidently worried and tired out, was on 
the rampage, and was showing^ considerable disregard of the 
third commandment. There happened to be standing in the 
bow of the boat a lieutenant who took no part whatever in the 
labor of propeUing the craft, noticing which, Forrest said to 
him : ' Why don't you take hold of an oar or pole and help 
get this boat across?' The lieutenant responded that he was 
an officer, and did not think he was called upon to do that kind 
of work as long as there were private soldiers sufficient to perform 
that duty. As the general was tugging away with a pole when 
this reply was made, he flew into a rage, and, holding the pole in 
one hand, with the other he gave the unfortunate lieutenant a 
slap on the side of the face which sent him sprawling over the 
gunwale and into the river. He was rescued by catching hold of 
the pole held out to him and was safely landed in the boat, when 
the irate general said to him : ' Now, damn you, get hold of the 
oars and go to work! If I knock you out of the boat again I'll 
let you drown.' Forrest's rough-and-ready discipline was effect- 
ual; the young officer made an excellent hand for the balance of 
the trip." 

The troops which had been left on the north side of the river 
to retard the advance of the Federals who were closing in upon 
Forrest, as soon as they were informed that the general had 
safely reached the island, retreated down the Tennessee River, 
and on the 13th of October safely crossed, with a loss of two 
men killed and four missing. Colonel Wilson, of Bell's brigade, 
received special commendation for the successful manner in which 
he conducted this movement. Forrest says : " He is entitled to 
the commendation of his government and its lasting gratitude for 
the faithful manner in which he performed this important and 
hazardous trust. Surrounded by fifteen thousand of the enemy 
for three days, he hung upon his flanks, assaulted him on every 
favorable occasion, retiring to the hills when pushed, and sub- 
sisting upon supplies captured from the enemy. He made no 
efTort to escape from his perilous situation until eyery Confed- 
erate soldier was across the river, when he ferried over his own 
regiment and joined his command." 

On the 6th of October General Forrest was again at Cherokee 
station, in Alabama, which place he had left on the 21st of Sep- 

508 



BRILLIANT WORK OF KELLEY AT EASTPORT 

tember. Having been informed of the approach of a flotilla up 
the river with reinforcements for General Rousseau, which it had 
been intended should arrive in time to prevent the passage of the 
Tennessee by Forrest, he despatched about five hundred men under 
Colonel D. C. Kelley, with a section of artillery from Hudson's bat- 
tery, under the command of Lieutenant Walton, to take position at 
or near Eastport in order to prevent any advance from that direc- 
tion. Colonel Kelley, by a skilful disposition of his troops and 
by masking his batteries, succeeded in concealing the presence 
of his command from the enemy, who on the loth came in sight, 
steaming up the river with two gunboats and three transports. 
The Federal troops in this expedition (commanded by Colonel 
George B. Hoge) consisted of the One Hundred and Thirteenth 
and One Hundred and Twentieth Illinois and the Sixty -first 
Colored Infantry, and Company G of the Second Missouri Light 
Artillery. They formed part of the expedition of three thousand 
troops under General C. C. Washburn which had sailed on the ist 
of October from Cairo to Florence, Alabama. The troops under 
Hoge were ordered on the 8th of October to proceed up the Tennes- 
see River to Eastport, move rapidly out to luka, break the railroad 
and destroy the bridges, and then to hold Eastport until he could 
hear from General Washburn. In his report Colonel George B. Hoge 
says : " On nearing Eastport the gunboat Key West went above 
the landing, and seemed to be satisfied that there was no enemy 
near, and I immediately landed the troops. Lieutenants Lytle and 
Boals, as soon as they could land their horses, started out to rec- 
onnoitre, and about five hundred yards off the landing came upon 
the pickets of the enemy. A masked battery (I think it was a 
battery of at least six rifled guns), and shortly after a battery of 
three rifled guns at Chickasaw, opened on us. I immediately went 
on shore and had a line of battle formed. The enemy had got a 
perfect range of the transports, every shot doing more or less exe- 
cution. One of the gunboats {Undme) had become disabled and 
was dropping down the river, and the Key West followed her. I 
ordered the troops to be placed on board. I then went on board 
the transport City of Pekin, when a shell from the enemy struck 
a caisson of the battery on board the Kenton, exploding it and set- 
ting fire to the boat. Immediately after this a caisson exploded 
on the Aurora^ setting fire to her, and also bursting her steam-pipe. 

509 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

A scene of confusion then began. The boats, in spite of all I 
could do, backed out, parting their lines, leaving about two-thirds 
of the command on the shore. The troops that were left on the 
bank were commanded to keep in good order and proceed down 
under the river-bluff, and they would all be taken on board. A 
number were thus rescued. I am sorry to have to report the loss 
of the four guns of the battery." After this disastrous termina- 
tion to the expedition. Colonel Hoge concluded to return to John- 
son ville, where he arrived that day. He reports i8 killed, 31 
wounded, 25 missing: total 74. This brilliant affair entitled Col- 
onel D. C. Kelley to the unstinted praise which his commander 
bestowed upon him. 

General Grant had telegraphed from City Point to Thomas : 
" General Washburn, with 3000 cavalry, will start from Clifton on 
the Tennessee River to-morrow morning and join Rousseau. Two 
gunboats have also been ordered up the Tennessee to go as far as 
possible. If Forrest does not succeed in getting across the river 
to-night, I believe we shall be able to destroy him." 

But the swift-moving Forrest had once more slipped through 
the toils, for on the 7th General Morgan telegraphed Thomas: 
" Forrest has escaped us. Crossed at Pride's ferry, ten miles 
below Florence." And all this greatly to the disappointment of 
Thomas, who on October 3d had wired Sherman : " Major-General 
Washburn is going up the Tennessee River with 3000 cavalry and 
1 500 infantry. General Morgan is moving from Athens, so it appears 
there is fair chance of hemming Forrest in and destroying his com- 
mand. The river is not fordable, and if we seize his means of cross- 
ing at Bainbridge he will be unable to cross anywhere else. I think 
Rousseau ought to destroy him. Two Ohio and three Kentucky reg- 
iments with reinforcements have arrived and are being distributed." 

General Forrest, in his ofificial report, says: "During the expe- 
dition I captured 86 commissioned officers, 6"] government em- 
ployes, 1274 non-commissioned officers and privates, 933 negroes, 
besides killing and wounding in the various engagements about 
1000 more, making an aggregate of 3360, being an average of one 
to each man I had in the engagements. In addition to these I 
captured about eight hundred horses, seven pieces of artillery,* 

* He captured eight pieces of artillery: two at Athens, two at Sulphur 
Branch trestle, and four at Eastport. 

510 



OFFICIAL REPORT OF RAID 

two thousand stands of small arms, several hundred saddles, fifty- 
wagons and ambulances, with a large amount of medical, commis- 
sary, and quartermaster's stores, all of which have been distributed 
to the different commands. The greatest damage done to the 
enemy was in the complete destruction of the railroad from Deca- 
tur to Spring Hill, with the exception of the Duck River bridge. 
It will require months to repair the injury done to the road, and 
may possibly be the means of forcing the evacuation of Pulaski and 
Columbia, and thus relieve the people from further oppression."* 
Forrest lost in the expedition, 47 killed, 293 wounded ; making a 
total of 340 killed and wounded. 

* " My troops during the expedition acted with their accustomed gal- 
lantry. In camp, on the march, and in battle they exhibited all the traits of 
the gallant soldier. I take pleasure in commending the steadiness, self- 
denial, and patriotism with which they bore the hardships and privations 
incident to such a campaign. General Buford's division fully sustained the 
reputation it has so nobly won. General Lyon and Colonel Bell added new 
laurels to the chaplet which their valor and patriotism have already won. 
Colonel Johnson, commanding General Roddey's troops, displayed every sol- 
dierly virtue. He was prompt in obeying orders. I regret to announce that 
while gallantly leading his troops he was severely wounded. I take pleasure 
also in calling the notice of the government to the conduct of Colonel Kelley, 
commanding Colonel Rucker's brigade. He displayed all the dash, energy, 
and gallantry which has so long made him an efficient officer, and justly 
merits promotion by his government. The conduct of Lieutenant-Colonel 
Jesse A. Forrest at Athens, Alabama, is worthy of mention. While the ene- 
my was attempting to reinforce the fort, at the head of his splendid regi- 
ment Colonel Forrest made a gallant charge, driving the enemy from his 
position, but in this charge he received a severe wound in the thigh. The 
splendid discipline of Colonel James M. Warren's troops, of General Rod- 
dey's command, attracted my attention and received my commendation on 
the field. They moved forward in perfect order and with the steadiness of 
veteran soldiers. Colonel Warren has few superiors in the service, and is en- 
titled to special mention for his uniform gallantry. In conclusion I would 
return my acknowledgments to my personal staff — Major J. P. Strange, as- 
sistant adjutant-general ; Major C. W. Anderson, acting assistant adjutant- 
general ; Colonel R. W. Pitman, assistant inspector-general ; Major G. V. 
Rambaut, commissary ; and Colonel M. C. Galloway, aide-de-camp. They 
cheerfully and promptly executed my orders, and their bearing throughout 
was highly commendable. My thanks are also due to Captain Thomas 
Robins and Lieutenant J. N. Davis, attached to my staff, for the efficient 
service they rendered me during the expedition. They displayed gallantry 
and alacrity in conveying all orders." 

5" 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

The amount of damage done to the various stockades and forti- 
fied places along the route may be gathered from the following 
report of Brigadier-General D. C. McCallum, General Director of 
Railroads of the United States, dated the 13th of October, 1864: 
'' Forrest burned one engine and twelve cars at Decatur Junction ; 
three cars between Huntsville and Stevenson ; all the bridges and 
trestles between Pulaski and Athens, a distance of thirty miles. 
This embraced Elk River bridge, and the most formidable tres- 
tle on the Decatur and Stevenson line, eleven hundred feet long 
and about ninety feet high; and also partially destroyed two 
miles and a half of track. Between Spring Hill and Columbia 
three bridges and two to three miles of track were destroyed. 
The Chattanooga line was uninjured, except the tearing up of one 
or two rails by small guerilla parties. It will take until the 20th 
of the present month to restore the communication between 
Chattanooga and Atlanta. Many engines have been thrown from 
the track by the removal of the rails, but no very serious acci- 
dents have occurred." 

Lieutenant Albert Kramer, Sixty -eighth New York Infantry, 
Assistant Inspector of Block -houses, reports: "On Saturday, at 

1 P.M., came General Forrest and staff with flag of truce to block- 
house No. 5, in command of Lieutenant E. Nixon, and demanded 
the surrender of the block -house and garrison, which demand 
Lieutenant Nixon complied with without firing a shot. Lieuten- 
ant Nixon ordered block-houses No. 3, No. 4, and No. 5 to sur- 
render. On demand of the surrender of block-house No. 6, bridge 
No. 5, refusal was made. Lieutenant Long fought the enemy from 

2 P.M. until 12 midnight; killed ten rebels, and wounded several, 
but they succeeded in destroying his bridge. Lieutenant Long re- 
ports the surrender of block-houses No. 3, No. 4, and No. 5 ; also 
bridges No. 3 and No. 4. Block-house No. 6 and bridge No. 5 re- 
fused to surrender, and the rebels, under cover of the railroad 
bank, succeeded in firing the bridge with turpentine. One end 
was burned, and the whole fell in. Block -houses No. 3, No. 4, 
and No. 5 are burned to the ground ; also bridges No. 3 and No. 4. 
At Carter's Creek station the water-tank and saw-mill were de- 
stroyed, and the railroad rendered useless from there to Spring 
Hill. The rebels had no artillery, and the three block -houses 
were double cased up to the top log of the loop-holes. The garri- 

512 



ASKS FOR LEAVEOF ABSENCE 

sons of the three block-houses, water-tank, and saw-mill were taken 
prisoners, except one man who escaped. Block-house No. 3 was 
garrisoned with thirty-two men ; block-house No. 4 with twenty- 
two men ; block-house No. 5 with thirty-one men ; and thirty men 
garrisoned the water-tank and saw-mill ; altogether, one hundred 
and fifteen men captured." 

From Cherokee station General Forrest moved his troops to 
Corinth, where he arrived on the I2th of October. From Chero- 
\ kee, on October 8th, the following letter was written to General 
Taylor : 

"Cherokee, October 8, 1864. 
" Lieutenant-General R. Taylor, Commanding, etc. : 

" General, — I have been constantly in the field since 1861, and have spent 
half the entire time in the saddle. I have never asked for a furlough for 
over ten days in which to rest and recruit, and except when wounded and 
unable to leave my bed have had no respite from duty. My strength is fail- 
ing, and it is absolutely necessary that I should have some rest. I left a 
large estate in Mississippi, and have never given my private affairs a day's 
attention at any one time since the war began. Will make the trip to west 
Tennessee, and hope as soon thereafter as you can do so you will relieve me 
from duty for twenty or thirty days to rest and recruit. I have received let- 
ters from Colonel McCulloch at Mobile. He and his command are much dis- 
satisfied, and I respectfully ask that my two divisions be placed, as they origi- 
nally were, under the command of Brigadier-Generals Chalmers and Buford, 
and that Mabry's brigade be substituted for McCulloch's, which change would 
in my opinion be satisfactory to all parties. I have captured since I came into 
this department over thirty pieces of artillery, fitting up my command with 
four batteries (in all sixteen guns).* They are now scattered, and I desire, 
if possible, to get all my command together, and with General Chalmers as 
senior officer feel that it would be safe to leave the command for a short 
time, which, in my present state of health, is absolutely necessary.and which 
you will confer a favor on me by granting as early as consistent with the 
good of the service. 

" I am. General, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

" N. B. Forrest, Major-General." 

Sherman at last began to despair of keeping intact his communi- 
cations from Atlanta to Nashville. On the 9th of October he 
telegraphed Grant : " It will be a physical impossibility to pro- 

* The records show that Forrest, from the time he assumed command in 
Mississippi, had captured thirty-nine pieces of artillery, including those taken 
from General W. Sooy Smith. 

2 K SI3 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

tect the roads, now that Hood, Forrest, and Wheeler, and the 
whole batch of devils are turned loose without home or habi- 
tation." 

The invasion of north Alabama and middle Tennessee had 
forced his hand, and now to Grant he said : " I propose we break 
up the railroad from Chattanooga and strike out with wagons for 
Savannah." 



f,.i:!<--l:. 



CHAPTER XIX 

THE JOHNSONVILLE EXPEDITION 

The Request for a Leave of Absence could not be Granted — Immediate Preparation 
for Invasion of West Tennessee — General Taylor Thanks Forrest for His Brilliant 
Success in Middle Tennessee — He Re-establishes Telegraphic Communication with 
West Tennessee — Moves in the Direction of Jackson — Reaches the Tennessee River 
— Batteries Masked at Various Points Along the Stream for the Purpose of Captur- 
ing Federal Transports — Capture of the Mazeppa — Gallant Conduct of Private 
W. C. West — Capture of the Gunboats Undine and Venus — Capture of the 
J. W. Cheeseman — The Undine and the Venus Furnished with a Crew from For- 
rest's Cavalry — Colonel W. A. Dawson Placed in Command of the " Horse Marines" 
— Forrest's Fleet Attacks the Federal Flotilla and Suffers Inglorious Defeat — The 
Venus Recaptured, with Forrest's Two Twenty-pounder Parrotts — The Undine, 
Crippled by the Federal Flotilla, is Destroyed by Colonel Dawson, Who Escapes 
with the Crew — Forrest Attacks Johnsonville and Destroys a Large Fleet of Boats 
Anchored There, and an Enormous Quantity of Military Supplies, Valued at Several 
Millions of Dollars — Terrible Blow to Sherman — The "Arkansas Rats" — Orders 
Received to Join Hood Near Florence, Alabama, for the Invasion of Middle Ten- 
nessee — Forrest's Letter to General Richard Taylor. 

THE raid from which Forrest was just returning had seriously 
interfered with the transportation of supphes towards Sher- 
man's army in Georgia, and had emphasized the determina- 
tion already arrived at in the mind of that officer to establish an- 
other route by which his army could be reached. He had, in fact, 
already made Johnsonville, on the Tennessee River, an important 
base for his commissariat, and Forrest, fully informed of this, had 
reported it to his superior, General Taylor. 

His request for a leave of absence could not be entertained for 
the present, and he had scarcely dismounted from the saddle after 
reaching Cherokee when he received orders from Lieutenant-Gen- 
eral Taylor to start at the earliest practicable moment into west 
Tennessee, in order to interrupt the navigation of the Tennessee 
River and to destroy at Johnsonville the immense stores which 
the Federal government were gathering at that important centre 
of distribution. It was while this correspondence was being carried 

515 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

on that General Taylor took occasion to refer in terms of high ap- 
preciation to Forrest's recent achievements : " Could anything add 
new lustre to your already justly earned reputation, I feel assured 
the complete success of your last expedition would do all that the 
most ambitious could desire. Permit me, General, to thank you 
and your noble followers, and to express the hope that all your 
future expeditions may prove as advantageous to our cause and 
as hurtful to that of the enemy as your last." 

The much-needed rest was promised upon his return from this 
proposed expedition, but events over which neither he nor Gen- 
eral Taylor could exercise control were then transpiring which 
were to carry him beyond Johnsonville into middle Tennessee 
again, and into a campaign so disastrous that it practically wiped 
out of existence one of the bravest armies of the South and sealed 
the doom of the Confederacy. 

Forrest now applied himself with great energy to the transfer 
of his troops from Cherokee station to Corinth, in Mississippi, and 
to the repair of the Mobile and Ohio railroad from that point 
northward to Bethel or Henderson station, for the transportation 
of his troops and artillery. Chalmers, who had been left in the 
neighborhood of Memphis, was directed, if the condition of affairs 
there would permit, to move with his division and unite with For- 
rest at Jackson in west Tennessee about the i6th of October. 
He informed Chalmers that he would be at Corinth by the I2th, 
and would proceed immediately to Paris, and thence to Jackson 
at the date above given. 

The movement of the Confederate army through northern Ala- 
bama to Decatur and Florence, and thence across the Tennessee 
River towards Franklin and Nashville was now in full swing. 
Realizing that Hood's invasion of middle Tennessee would neces- 
sitate such a concentration of the Union forces about Nashville 
as would weaken the garrisons in Memphis and other stations in 
the section where Forrest was operating, he earnestly requested 
to be permitted to remain with his command in the west. He 
argued that this section would now be practically at his mercy, 
and he could still further strip it of supplies for the use of the 
army. Should Hood succeed in his essay he could then cross the 
Tennessee River and unite with him in the forward movement to 
Kentucky. To Chalmers he writes : " I think the expedition to 

516 



PREPARING TO INVADE WEST TENNESSEE 

west Tennessee will enable me to get out a considerable amount 
of stock and accomplish very important results, which can here- 
after be explained." 

On the 1 2th of October he informs General Taylor: "I will 
move into west Tennessee in a few days, and you may rely 
on my doing all I can towards accomplishing your desires and 
in facilitating your suggestions." * He was of the opinion that 
the cars would be running to Bethel for the transportation of 
his troops and supplies within two weeks. "I am satisfied the 
amount of supplies reported as being in west Tennessee has been 
greatly exaggerated. I can subsist my command there and will 
be able to gather up some wheat and hogs, but not in amounts as 
large as has been suggested. Our currency cannot be used in that 
region, and the people, instead of collecting their surplus supply of 
hogs, will scatter them in the woods to prevent them falling into 
our hands. To hunt up and press the needed supplies will require 
much time, and will take all of my command to accomplish much. 
If you can furnish salt, oV anything the people could use at home, 
they would interest themselves in hunting up and furnishing the 
government with every article of supply that they could possibly 
spare. It is my present design to take possession of Fort Heiman, 
on the Tennessee River, below Johnsonville, and thus prevent all 
communication with Johnsonville by transports. It is highly im- 
portant that this line be interrupted, if not entirely destroyed, as I 
learned during my recent operations in middle Tennessee that it 
was by this route that the enemy received most of his supplies at 
Atlanta. I shall exercise diligence in gathering up the large num- 
ber of deserters and absentees in Tennessee. As fast as these are 
gathered up I would suggest that they be sent to you and placed 
at once in the infantry service. The facilities of these men for 
running away is much greater in the cavalry service, and they 
should be placed in positions remote from their country. The 
great, predominating, absorbing desire is to cut Sherman s line of 
communication. I did something towards accomplishing this result 
in my recent expedition, and am anxious to renew the effort, but 
nothing can be done without a pontoon across the Tennessee 
River. I suggest that the railroad be repaired from Cherokee to 

* Official Records, vol. xxxix. part iii. p. 815. 

517- 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

Tuscumbia and Florence, and that a bridge be thrown across the 
river there. This can be accomplished without much difficulty, 
as the columns or piles of the old bridge will furnish ample sup- 
ports for ropes. I presume it is the only place on the river 
that a bridge can be built. The road for several miles has 
been destroyed, but the iron necessary for repairs can be pro- 
cured on the west end of the road between this place and 
Grand Junction. If this bridge was built, I could strike the Ten- 
nessee and Alabama road or the Nashville or Chattanooga at 
pleasure, and return when hard pressed in safety. My men and 
horses are greatly jaded by the labors of the recent raid. Both 
need more rest than I am able to give them at present. It will 
require a month to recuperate and place my command in proper 
condition. In the recent engagement I lost in killed and wounded 
about 400 men. I still have on the other side of the river about 
500 men unable to cross.* These losses, with those ordered back 
to Georgia by General Hood, have greatly reduced my command. 
General Chalmers's brigade of 500 men will probably swell my 
command to 3400 troops. During my recent trip I killed, wound- 
ed, and captured 3000 of the enemy, and destroyed the Tennessee 
and Alabama railroad from Decatur to Spring Hill. It cannot be 
repaired in sixty days, and the engineer captured by me gives it 
as his opinion that the road cannot be placed in good running 
order during the winter. I captured on the road upward of 1000 
negroes. I understand only about 800 have reached you. This 
matter should be investigated, and I shall endeavor to learn where 
the blame should rest and punish the delinquent. I find a few 
smiths were retained here to shoe up my command, all of which 
will be reported to you and accounted for. A sense of duty to 
my government constrains me to call attention to the large num- 
ber of stragglers in General 's command. I do so in no 

spirit of unkindness towards that gallant and meritorious officer, 
who will certainly remedy the evil when his attention shall have 
been called to it. On my recent trip I found his men at every 
stopping-place, some of them with passes, from every grade of 
subordinate officer, and many with no passes at all. At Burns- 

* These troops subsequently escaped in small squads to the south bank 
of the Tennessee. 

.518 



ARRIVES AT JACKSON, TENNESSEE 

ville I found many stragglers, and on my approach they fled as 
if the enemy had made his appearance in their midst. Such a 
state of affairs is disreputable, and humiliating to my feelings. It 
is a burlesque upon military discipline. All applications for leave 
of absence for a longer period than ten days I shall refer to you 
for your action, and, unless something of the sort is required of 

General , his command will still be found scattered over 

the country, with furloughs and passes from all grades of officers. 
It is no spirit of dictation, but a desire to promote the good of the 
service, that prompts me to make these suggestions. I have com- 
menced repairing the telegraph-line from Grand Junction to this 
place (Corinth), and from here to Jackson. Both lines will be in 
operation in a few days." 

On this same day (October I2th) a more urgent order was tele- 
graphed to Chalmers, which read : ** Fetch* your wagons and the 
two batteries with you. I will supply you with the artillery am- 
munition at Jackson." This urgent despatch to General Chal- 
mers was with a view of pouncing upon General Edward Hatch, 
who was then reported to be making for the crossing of the Ten- 
nessee River into west Tennessee, and Forrest was anxious to 
meet him there with his entire force. 

All necessary preparations having been made, on the i6th of 
October Colonel Bell, with his brigade, was directed to advance 
from Corinth and to take post at Lavinia, in west Tennessee. 
Two days later General Buford, with the Kentucky Brigade, took 
up his line of march for Lexington, a point eastward of Jackson 
and between this town and the Tennessee River. With his es- 
cort and Rucker's brigade (which on account of the wounds of 
Colonel Rucker was still under the command of Colonel D. C. 
Kelley), General Forrest in person left Corinth on the 19th of Oc- 
tober, and on the 21st established his headquarters once more at 
Jackson. From there he took occasion to report to General Taylor 
the unserviceable condition of his command, stating that a large 
number of the horses had died as a result of the great exposure 
and fatigue to which they had been subjected in the recent hard 
campaigns, that many of his men were sick and worn out, and that 

* " Fetch " was one of his favorite verbs, and he would never permit his 
aides to substitute for it the more modern and accepted word " bring." 

519 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

he had been compelled to permit a large number to go to their 
homes in west Tennessee and Kentucky to procure horses and 
clothing. " Mabry's brigade now numbers only three hundred 
and fifty men, and my total effective force for the expedition in 
hand is three thousand troops." Forrest himself was also " sick 
and worn out " in body, but the indomitable will was still on duty. 

At Jackson the ever-faithful Chalmers reported with two hun- 
dred and fifty men of McCulloch's brigade and the three hundred 
of Mabry's, which, with Rucker's old brigade, now constituted 
his division. Buford, having advanced from Lexington towards 
the Tennessee River, and thrown his scouts across that stream, re- 
ported to Forrest that there were no indications of the enemy in 
the neighborhood of Clifton, and upon receipt of this information 
he was directed to move northward to Huntington, and thence by 
way of Paris to the mouth of the Big Sandy River. 

On the 29th of October Chalmers was also sent forward to co- 
operate with Buford, who with excellent judgment had estab- 
lished himself at Fort Heiman and Paris Landing on>the Tennes- 
see. The judicious disposition of the troops and batteries was 
highly complimented by Forrest, who arrived in person on the 
morning of the 29th. On this date, also. Colonel Edward W. 
Rucker, having sufficiently recovered from the wounds received 
at Harrisburg, rejoined the command, and took charge of the rem- 
nant of his old brigade. Bell, with his Tennesseeans and one sec- 
tion of the old " Morton " battery, was now stationed near Paris 
Landing, the guns commanding a stretch of the river for about a 
mile up and down the stream. About five miles below, at Fort 
Heiman, General Buford, with his division and the two twenty- 
pounder Parrotts, thoroughly guarded the river at that point. 

The Confederates had not long to wait for their game. Forrest, 
as usual, had moved with such celerity and covered his approach 
so successfully that the Federals were in utter ignorance of his 
presence on the Tennessee. 

Early on the morning of the 29th of October the Federal trans- 
port Mazeppa, a rich prize, heavily laden with freight, and with 
two barges in tow, en route to Johnsonville, was seen rounding a 
bend in the river from below. She was permitted to pass the 
lower battery, which, being masked, her officers did not discover. 
When well in the stretch between the two lower batteries they 



CAPTURE OF THE MAZEPPA 

opened upon her, and so accurate was the aim of these veteran 
gunners that every shot passed through her. At the third fire 
she was so badly crippled that the pilot headed her for the op- 
posite shore, where she was abandoned by the crew, who, with 
the exception of the commanding officer and two men, fled 
to the woods in wild dismay. As the Confederates did not even 
have a canoe or skiff, volunteers were called for to swim the river 
and take possession of the boat. Several offered their services, but 
to Captain Frank P. Gracey more than all others is due the credit 
on this occasion. With him, Captain John Horn, Lieutenant E. B. 
Ross, of the Third Kentucky, and others volunteered. A crude raft 
was constructed of logs and drift-wood, but at the first essay it went 
to pieces, whereupon Captain Frank P. Gracey, who had won espe- 
cial notice for his conduct as an artillerist at Chickamauga, not 
waiting for his comrades, and using a portion of the raft to sus- 
tain in part his weight, made his way alone across the river, and 
boldly took possession of the boat, which at this time was in 
the hands of its captain and two of the crew, the rest having 
abandoned their craft to seek safety in flight. The boat's yawl 
was launched, and by means of a line the steamer was warped 
to the side where the Confederates were.* Forrest's men now 
found themselves bountifully supplied with blankets, shoes, 
clothing, and all the necessaries and not a few of the luxuries 
of life. It was the richest capture in many a day, and imme- 
diate steps were taken to have the cargo removed some dis- 
tance from the river-bank, where it could be carefully guarded 
until carried away for the use of the command. While this 
was being done three gunboats made their appearance from 
below, and began vigorously to shell the men who were engaged 
in unloading the Mazeppa. The Confederate batteries, however, 
forced them to retire, and, after the boat was emptied of her 
contents, fearing the gunboats might return in force. General 
Buford ordered her to be set on fire. 

On the following morning, October 30th, the steamer Anna 
came down the river from the direction of Johnsonville, and suc- 
cessfully ran the gantlet of all the Confederate batteries. She 
was struck a number of times, but unfortunately the gunners, usu- 

* I am indebted for this correction to General H. B. Lyon, living in igo6 at 
Eddyville, Ky., who was an eye-witness to Captain Gracey's feat, and to Lieu- 
tenant E. B. Ross and Captain John Horn, who were also witnesses. 

521 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

ally so accurate, did not hit a vital spot. Her success tempted a 
repetition of the feat by the transport Venus, which was towing 
two barges and was convoyed by the gunboat Undine, which lat- 
ter craft, it will be remembered, had already had an unhappy ex- 
perience with Colonel D. C. Kelley at Eastport soon after the Con- 
federates had recrossed the Tennessee from the expedition into 
north Alabama and middle Tennessee. These boats, coming in 
range of the guns in front of Colonel Tyree H. Bell's command, 
were by instructions permitted to pass into the trap, and when 
well below his guns Bell opened upon them and struck them re- 
peatedly, but without material damage. They soon ran in range 
of the lower batteries in front of Lyon's and Buford's positions, 
and these, having a better chance, opened with such telling pre- 
cision that the Federal steamers put about and tried to escape 
again up the river towards Johnsonville. In this attempt they 
were, however, thwarted by the Confederate batteries which they 
at first succeeded in passing, and were now caught half-way be- 
tween the two batteries, though beyond accurate range of either. 
At this moment Colonel E. W. Rucker asked that he be given 
two pieces of artillery, with which he would undertake to reach 
the river-bank at a point close enough to the boats to enable him 
to sink or capture them. Before he could get into position and 
open fire, however, another steamer, the J. W. Cheeseman, ap- 
proached the upper battery (Rice's), and, under directions, was 
also allowed to pass into the trap unmolested ; but as soon as she 
came opposite Hudson's guns, both Hudson and Rice opened 
upon her and in short order completely disabled her. At the 
same time the troops concealed in the undergrowth and cane 
along the bank poured a heavy fire of small arms into her, com- 
pelling her to surrender. By this time Rucker, who had met with 
great difficulty in getting through the tangle and undergrowth 
with the two ten-pounder Parrotts of Hudson's battery, accom- 
panied by the Fifteenth Tennessee regiment and the Twenty- 
sixth Tennessee battalion, had attacked the Undine " with such 
vigor and success that, after a severe artillery duel between his 
battery and the gunboat, the latter was disabled and driven to the 
opposite bank, where all of its officers and crew, who were able to 
do so, abandoned it and escaped." 

General Chalmers in his official report continues : " At the same 

522 



FIGHTING GUNBOATS ON THE TENNESSEE 

time Lieutenant-Colonel Kelley, commanding the Twenty-Sixth 
Battalion Tennessee Cavalry, attacked the transport Venus, which 
was defended by a small detachment of Union infantry, so sharp- 
ly that she surrendered to him, and the gallant colonel, going on 
board of her with two companies of his battalion, crossed the 
river, took possession of the gunboat, and brought both safely to 
the landing." 

While this fight was going on, another gunboat, the No. 29, ap- 
peared from above, and, anchoring about one and a half miles 
from Rice's battery, opened upon the Confederates. Rice returned 
the fire, but found the distance too great to be effective. General 
Chalmers then ordered him to move nearer with the guns, accom- 
panied by the general's escort and a company of videttes attached 
to the Seventh Alabama Cavalry. As soon as Captain Rice ap- 
proached sufficiently near to open upon the new-comer, she steam- 
ed up the river out of range. It was now found upon inspection 
of the captures that the J. IV. Cheeseman was so badly damaged 
that she could not in any way be useful to the Confederates, and 
Forrest ordered her, after all the property on board had been re- 
moved to the shore, to be set on fire. The transport Venus and 
the gunboat Undine were only slightly injured and were soon put 
in repair. The Undine was one of the largest boats of her class on 
the Tennessee, carrying eight twenty-four-pounder brass howitzers, 
and when captured had all of her armament and equipment on 
board. An attempt had been made to spike two of the guns, 
and to disable another by jamming a shell in the muzzle, but 
these obstacles were soon removed. The Confederate loss in 
this day's work was one man in Rucker's command severely 
wounded. The enemy lost five killed and six wounded on the 
Venus; three killed and four wounded on the Undine ; one 
wounded on the Cheeseman ; and forty-three prisoners captured, 
among whom were one officer and ten men of the Union in- 
fantry ; the others belonged to the crews of the different boats. 

Forrest now conceived the novel idea of manning the captured 
boats and using them in co-operation with his land force in the 
proposed attack on Johnsonville and the Federal flotilla there. 
Colonel W. A. Dawson was ordered to take charge of the fleet, 
and with a volunteer crew of " horse marines " raised the 
commodore's flag on the Venus, on which the two twenty- 

523 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

pounder Parrotts were placed, and Captain Gracey was given 
command of the Undine. It will be remembered that this officer 
served on the right wing of the Confederate army with Forrest at 
Chickamauga, taking an active and brilliant part in the efifort to 
prevent Gordon Granger from uniting with Thomas near the close 
of this battle on September 20th, 1863. 

" Commodore " Dawson was directed to proceed up the river 
towards Johnsonville, but not to venture beyond the support of 
the batteries, which with the troops would march along the road 
parallel with the bank of the river. As Dawson went on board 
his vessel he said to Forrest : " General, I will go with these boats 
wherever you order, but I tell you candidly I know very little 
about managing gunboats. You must promise me that if I lose 
the fleet you won't give me a cursing when I wade ashore and come 
back on foot." Forrest said: " No, Colonel, you will do the best 
you can ; that is all I want. I promise not to haul you over the 
coals if you come home wet ; but I want you and Gracey, if you 
see you are going to be caught, to run your boats into the bank, 
let your men save themselves as best they can, and then set the 
steamers on fire." A trial-trip was now made with the fleet, and 
although the boats behaved awkwardly enough to frighten a 
" river-man," since these " land-lubbers " were able to maintain 
steam enough to overcome the force of the current and to keep 
the boats from running into the woods it was deemed a sufficient 
experience to justify an engagement with the enemy. 

On November ist the "horse marines" steamed slowly and 
cautiously up the river, keeping in close touch with the troops 
and artillery that were plodding along the bank in the direction 
of Johnsonville. Forrest's sailors were for the present, at least, 
enjoying their novel situation, and, as occasion would offer, spoke 
words of affected sympathy to their unfortunate comrades who 
had to ride horses and drive artillery. Their sarcasm even went 
so far as to offer to carry their guns and forage-sacks if the cav- 
alry-men would only wade out in the stream and hand them on 
board. The men on shore, however, were equal to the emer- 
gency, and, while appreciating the kindness of their " web-footed" 
comrades, declined assistance, on the ground that the sailors would 
soon be drowned by the Yankee gunboats, and their guns and 
forage-sacks were too valuable to be risked in such hands. 

524 



THE "HORSE-MARINES" ARE DEFEATED 

For two days the history of the fleet was uneventful, but on 
the 2d of November, having gained courage with experience, 
they ventured too far in advance of their land supports and col- 
lided with the Union flotilla with dire results. At three o'clock 
on this date, Lieutenant-Commander King, U. S. N., with gun- 
boats No. 32 and No. 29, started from Johnsonville, and five miles 
below that point, rounding a bend in the river, came suddenly in 
range of the Undine^ which was well in advance of the Venus, 
and immediately engaged her. The trained navy of the Fed- 
eral Lieutenant-Commander made short work of Forrest's sail- 
ors. Seeing that the Undine was about to be captured, Gracey 
ran her nose into the bank, and he and his men jumped 
ashore, after the vessel had been set on fire. The Venus, a 
witness to the disaster to her sister ship, turned about and 
sought safety in flight, reaching the Confederate batteries 
on the river-bank. Lieutenant-Commander King later picked 
up the Venus, which had on board when captured the two 
twenty -pounder Parrotts, with two hundred rounds of am- 
munition (a great loss to General Forrest), also one hundred 
boxes of shoes, two bales of blankets, and five hundred and 
seventy-six boxes of hard bread, and other freight which had 
been taken from the Mazeppa and placed on this boat for con- 
venience of transportation. The Federals ultimately took the 
guns and ammunition from the Venus and used them against the 
Confederates during the bombardment of Johnsonville. The 
other property was destroyed with the boat, by Forrest's com- 
mand, in the general conflagration a few days later at Johnsonville. 

On November 3d the Undine again proceeded up the river, this 
time more cautiously, and as the Federal boats came in sight she 
made a show of fight, in an effort to decoy them into an am- 
buscade of the Confederate batteries below. The Key West, the 
advance gunboat of the Federals, ran into the Confederate bat- 
tery two miles below Johnsonville, and received nineteen shots 
before she was able to escape, but finally got away. The re- 
mainder of the Union flotilla, however, closed in upon the Undine 
in such desperate fashion that the brave Colonel Dawson was 
compelled to abandon her, but not until she was set on fire and 
destroyed. The Federal boats pressed Dawson so closely that 
he could not land on the western shore, upon which the Confed- 

525 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

erate cavalry was. He, however, succeeded in escaping to the 
opposite side, where he and his men concealed themselves in the 
canebrakes until dark, and then on logs and rafts crossed the river 
to rejoin their command. 

While the Key West was engaged with the upper batteries, five 
additional gunboats came up the river from the direction of Padu- 
cah and engaged the Confederate batteries near the foot of Reyn- 
olds Island, but were repulsed, and failed to unite with the upper 
fleet. 

The extent of the damage which Forrest had so far inflicted 
upon the Union vessels in the Tennessee may be gathered from 
the report of Brigadier-General James L. Donaldson, who says : 
" The new boat, Mazeppa, with seven hundred tons of freight from 
Cincinnati, was captured Friday. The Naugatuck and Alice were 
captured at Widow Reynolds's Bar on Saturday. Gunboat No. 
55 and transports Venus and Cheeseman were captured yesterday 
without being disabled. Gunboat No. 55 and the two transports 
are now in the hands of the rebels on the river. The steamer 
Dave Hughes, with barges loaded with government stores, was 
burned yesterday afternoon fifteen miles from Clarksville." * 

Late in the afternoon of the 3d Forrest reached the bank of 
the Tennessee River opposite Johnsonville, and, accompanied by 
his chief of artillery. Captain John W. Morton, made a careful 
reconnaissance, with the view of selecting the most favorable 
positions for the batteries. The river -landing at Johnsonville 
was lined with transports and gunboats and barges. Upon the 
bank were large warehouses filled with valuable supplies, while 
several acres of the shore were covered with every description 
of army stores. Waiting until night came on, all the guns were 
silently placed in position and the batteries so masked that 
their presence was not suspected until they were ready to open 
fire. Thrall's guns, which had arrived on the day before in com- 
pany with Mabry's fragment of brigade, were placed in position 
above Johnsonville, while the old Morton battery and Hudson's 
pieces were placed nearly opposite and just below the town. 
Forrest ordered the attack to begin at three o'clock in the after- 
noon. His movements had been so carefully made that the enemy 

* Official Records, vol. xxxix. part i. p. 863. 
526 



THE ATTACK UPON JOHNSONVILLE 

were loath to believe he could be on the opposite side of the 
river. About two o'clock a gunboat, evidently bent upon a 
reconnaissance, steamed towards the western shore, but put 
back in great haste as one of the Confederate guns sent a 
shell through its side. 

The cannonading was commenced by a section of Morton's bat- 
tery commanded by Lieutenant Brown, and the other batteries 
chimed in promptly. From the forts on the opposite side of 
the river and the fleet of gunboats the enemy returned the fire 
with spirit. Captain Morton and the commanders of the vari- 
ous batteries soon obtained the range, and, by cutting the time- 
fuses with precision, spots of smoke and flame soon began to break 
out here and there among the boats which lined the river-bank 
and in the warehouses and piles of goods along the wharf. The 
conflagration spread rapidly, and by nightfall the wharf for nearly 
a mile up and down the river presented a solid sheet of flame. 
The Union reports assert that some of the boats along the wharf 
were fired by order of the Federal commander, for fear that they 
would be captured by the Confederates. 

General Forrest, who was as great a believer in artillery as Na- 
poleon, was in the habit of spending many of his spare moments 
in camp or on the march with the artillery companies. While 
Freeman lived, and when Morton commanded a separate battery, 
they always made it a point to have something tempting for the 
general to eat, and when they bivouacked for the night or for the 
mid-day feed for men and horses, whether he messed with them 
or not, they always had a place ready for him, and he never missed 
an opportunity of showing his appreciation of these excellent 
fighters for the effective work they were doing under his direc- 
tions. The battery of Captain J. C. Thrall exceptionally distin- 
guished itself by the steadiness and accuracy of its fire at Johnson- 
ville. The troops had nicknamed this company, which was made 
up chiefly from Jackson County, in the White River country of 
Arkansas, " The Arkansas Rats." Riding along with them as they 
were leaving Johnsonville, he complimented them very highly 
upon their conduct. He said : " Boys, after this fight we will have 
to find a better name for you than * The Arkansas Rats.' I am 
going to baptize you now ' The Arkansas Braves.' " A waggish 
sergeant of one of the guns, finding this a good opportunity 

527 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

to close in with his general, said : " General, talkin' may be very 
good, but something to eat would sound a heap better ; we have 
been living on wind for two days." Forrest smiled appreciatively, 
and, turning to one of his staff, said : " Go back to my head- 
quarters wagon, where you will find four boxes of hard -tack and 
three hams ; have them brought right up here and issued to Cap- 
tain Thrall's men."* 

Lieutenant-Colonel William Sinclair, Assistant Inspector- Gen- 
eral of the United States Army, in his ofificial report, says : " The 
total money value of the property destroyed and captured during 
the operations of the rebels on the Tennessee River, including 
steamboats and barges, is about $2,200,000." f Colonel Thomp- 
son estimated the rebel forces operating under Forrest, Chalmers, 
Buford, Bell, and Lyon at thirteen thousand men, with twenty-six 
guns, twenty of them twenty-pounder Parrotts. He says : " The 
rebel cavalry under Forrest appeared October 28th before Fort 
Heiman, and captured the steamboat Mazeppa and a barge with a 
valuable cargo of quartermaster's and subsistence stores. The 
Undine, the Venus, and the Cheeseman fell into the enemy's hands 
on the evening of the 30th of October, At this time the military 
and naval forces off Johnsonville, on November 4th, were as fol- 
lows : Forty-third Wisconsin Volunteers, seven hundred men ; 
detachments of the Twelfth, Thirteenth, and One Hundredth 
United States Colored Infantry (numbers not given); and quar- 
termaster's employes numbering eight hundred men ; six ten- 
pounder Parrott guns, four twelve-pounder Napoleon guns, and 
two twenty-pounder Parrott guns (captured on the Venus), a.nd the 
gunboats Key West, Elphin, and Tawah. In the fight which en- 
sued the gunboats were abandoned and burned, and all the trans- 
ports were destroyed by fire, the fire extending to the large pile 
of stores on the levee, and from that to the warehouse, which was 
destroyed." 

No marvel that Sherman on November 6th reported to Grant: 
"That devil Forrest was down about Johnsonville, making havoc 
among the gunboats and transports." 

Forrest says : " Having completed the work designed for the 

* Manuscripts of Mr. John Sherrer, of Thrall's battery, 
t Official Records, vol. xxxix. part i. p. 860. 
528 



FEDERALS WORRIED AND OFF THE SCENT 

expedition, I moved my command six miles during the night by 
the light of the enemy's burning property. The roads were al- 
most impassable, and the march to Corinth was slow and toilsome, 
but we reached there on November loth, after an absence of over 
two weeks, during which time I captured and destroyed four gun- 
boats, fourteen transports, twenty barges, twenty-six pieces of ar- 
tillery, and $6,7CK),ooo worth of property, and captured one hun- 
dred and fifty prisoners. General Buford, after supplying his own 
command, turned over to my chief quartermaster about nine thou- 
sand pairs of shoes and one thousand blankets. My loss during 
the entire trip was two killed and nine wounded." In his official 
report of this remarkable expedition, General Forrest pays high 
tribute to Brigadier-Generals Chalmers, Buford, and Lyon, and 
to Colonels Bell, Rucker, Crossland, and Mabry, for the skill, 
coolness, and undaunted courage which they exhibited. He pays 
an especial tribute to Captain John W. Morton, his chief of ar- 
tillery, and the brave troops under his command : " My thanks 
are especially due for their efficiency and gallantry on this expe- 
dition. They fired with a rapidity and accuracy which extorted 
the commendation of even the enemy." 

The Union commanders in this immediate section, as well as 
the generals of departments elsewhere, were considerably stirred 
up by this unlooked-for incursion of the Confederates, and the de- 
struction which they had accomplished of the gunboats, transports, 
and an enormous quantity of supplies. Forrest had thrown the 
Federal officers off the scent by a feint upon Memphis. Just be- 
fore starting for Jackson and Johnsonville he had directed Chal- 
mers to leave troops enough under an efficient officer in the 
neighborhood of Memphis to worry the commander there and to 
give out the impression that he was moving to attack that place. 
The official records show that he was expected there on the i6th 
of October, for it was telegraphed from Memphis that Forrest in- 
tended to attack at an early date, and General M. L. Smith re- 
ports : " The houses along the Gayoso bayou are loop-holed for 
sharp-shooters, and our inner line of defence constructed of cotton 
and hay. Forrest himself was at Grenada on Friday night, and 
consulted with General Dick Taylor." 

Halleck also wired Thomas that Forrest was threatening Mem- 
phis and Paducah. He says : " If by the help of Burbridge and 
2 L 529 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

Washburn I could drive him south, it would relieve that part of 
the country from all danger." 

Thomas, who in one of his despatches dubbed Forrest " a 
tricky fellow," agreed fully with the general-in-chief that it would 
relieve that part of the country from all danger if Forrest were 
out of it, but did not consider it an easy task. In reply to Hal- 
leck he says: " The best way to get rid of Forrest would be for 
Sherman to let me have one of my corps, with which, and the 
cavalry now in Tennessee, I could soon move Forrest south, after 
which I could return to the main army." 

The general-in-chief at Washington, on October 21st, advised 
Thomas to lay the matter seriously before Sherman, saying: 
" So long as Forrest holds Corinth he threatens several very im- 
portant points. Please consult General Sherman as to the best 
means of getting rid of him." Two days later President Lincoln 
wired Thomas that he had received information, " having great 
appearance of authenticity, that there is to be a rebel raid into 
western Kentucky, sent from Corinth, Mississippi, on the 4th day 
of November." The President of the United States was about 
two weeks behind the starting of the raid, for it was on the 4th 
of November that Johnsonville and the fleet were destroyed and 
the object of the expedition accomplished. 

Sherman meanwhile had received so many different and irrecon- 
cilable despatches as to Forrest's whereabouts in various parts of 
the country that, with evident humor, he wired Grant on Novem- 
ber 1st: " Forrest seems to be scattered from Eastport to Jackson, 
Paris, and the lower Tennessee ; General Thomas reports a capt- 
ure by him of a gunboat and five transports." 

That he was also located elsewhere is evident from the follow- 
ing despatch, which was received by General Hooker in Cincinnati, 
at sunset on November 7th, 1864: 

" Forrest has been in disguise alternately in Chicago, Michigan City, and 
Canada for two months ; has 14,000 men, mostly from draft. On the 7th of 
November, at midnight, he will seize telegraph and rail at Chicago, release 
prisoners there, arm them, sack the city, shoot down all Federal soldiers, and 
urge concert of action with Southern sympathizers. 

" W. FiTHiAN, Captain and Provost Marshal." 

The effective work the Confederate leader was accomplishing 

S30 



ORDERED TO CO-OPERATE WITH HOOD 

with the small number of troops in his command had produced 
the impression that his force had been greatly augmented. 

General James H. Wilson, in a despatch to General Grant, says : 
" Sherman estimates that Forrest has 26,000 men mounted and 
menacing his communications." 

Evidently under a similar impression, on the 4th of November, 
while Forrest was busily engaged in destroying Johnsonville and 
the supplies there, Thomas telegraphed to Halleck at Washing- 
ton : "I have determined to send the Twenty- third Corps to 
Johnsonville, and have telegraphed Colonel Thompson, who has a 
force of 4000 men, not to abandon Johnsonville." 

To the commander at Columbus, Kentucky, Sherman tele- 
graphed : " If the enemy approaches Columbus, the guns of large 
caliber must be defended to the death, and the town should be 
burned by you rather than Forrest should get a pound of provi- 
sion or forage." 

While these various telegrams were flying over the wires, de- 
scribing the doings or warning commanders as to the supposed 
whereabouts of the redoubtable Confederate, he and his victori- 
ous troopers, laden with booty, were floundering through the mud, 
trying to get out of west Tennessee over roads which were in 
such wretched condition that it required eight yoke of oxen to 
pull a single piece of artillery. 

General Forrest had received a despatch from General Beaure- 
gard directing him as soon as he had accomplished the object of 
his expedition to move with his entire command to middle Ten- 
nessee and co-operate with General Hood in the advance of the 
main body of the Confederate army towards Franklin and Nash- 
ville; and in obedience to these orders, while Johnsonville was still 
in flames, he turned in the direction of Perryville, where he en- 
camped on the night of the 6th of November. 

It had been Forrest's intention to throw his command across 
the Tennessee River at Perryville, and with this end in view he 
had hastened on in person with his escort and a few picked men, 
arriving there some twelve hours ahead of the main body of his 
troops. A search for ferryboats, yawls, and skiffs was imme- 
diately instituted up and down the river, but so thorough had 
been the work of destruction of these small craft by the Federal 
gunboats, which had been constantly patrolling the stream, that 

531 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

no boats could be found. The two yawls which had been taken 
from one of the captured gunboats and hauled on wagons to this 
point were the only means at his disposal. Not easily baffled, he 
undertook to build rafts upon which, with the yawls, the men and 
artillery might be carried over, while the horses could be made to 
swim. The Tennessee River, as a result of the frequent and heavy 
rains, was now rising rapidly, the current had become very swift, 
and there was such a quantity of heavy drift-wood in the stream 
that it was found impossible to use the rafts with safety to the 
men ; nor was it safe for the horses, who were much weakened by 
the hard campaigning they had undergone, to try to make their 
way by swimming across a river so full of the trunks of trees 
and other floating material. By dint of hard work with the two 
yawls, by nightfall of the 7th of November, some four hundred 
men of Rucker's brigade had been transferred to the eastern bank. 
The folly of any further effort in this direction was now apparent 
to Forrest, who, directing General Rucker to move on in the 
direction of Florence, Alabama, with the troops already across, 
on the next day, with the remaining portion of his command and 
the artillery, took up his line of march south in the direction of 
Corinth, parallel with the west bank of the Tennessee. The roads 
were in such wretched condition and the horses so greatly weak- 
ened that it became necessary to impress oxen from the citizens 
living along the line of march, in order to pull the artillery through 
the mud. The horse teams were doubled, as many as sixteen 
horses being attached to a single cannon, while from four to eight 
yoke of oxen were necessary to drag a single piece along. Each 
relay of steers would be carried fifteen or twenty miles from the 
point of impressment, and then turned over to their owners, who 
were permitted to drive them back to their homes. Others were 
now impressed, and in this way, finally, on the 15th, the command 
reached luka, and, on the i6th, Cherokee station, at which point 
they were transferred to the cars, and proceeded without further 
interruption to Florence, where on the i8th of November they 
effected the junction with Hood's army. 

Such was the scarcity of nails and shoes for his horses on this 
march that he was compelled to take the tires from the farm- 
wagons along the route and have these made into horse-shoes to 
supply the needs of his command. 

532 



LETTER TO GENERAL RICHARD TAYLOR 

At Corinth, on November 12th, in view of his orders to report 
to General Hood, Forrest wrote the following letter, which breathes 
so much the spirit of personal and official friendship for General 
Richard Taylor, his immediate superior, and of that unselfish, un- 
dying devotion to the Confederate cause which characterized his 
whole conduct during the Civil War: 

" Headquarters Forrest's Cavalry, 
"Corinth, November 12th. 
" Lieut enant-General R. Taylor : 

"General, — In a few days I will forward you a report of my recent 
operations on the Tennessee River, together with a report of my expedition 
to Memphis. These two documents will, I presume, for the present termi- 
nate my official connection with you — an event which I deeply deplore. Our 
intercourse has not been of long duration, but to me it has been most pleasant 
and agreeable, certainly of such a character as to render our separation a 
source of regret ; but duty calls me elsewhere. I go to share in the toils and, 
I trust, in the victories of other fields ; but in leaving you I shall carry with 
me a sincere friendship, made so by your kindness and official courtesy. I 
congratulate you, on leaving, that so much of the territory under your juris- 
diction has been rescued from the grasp of the invader. Twelve months 
ago I entered your department and found the people groaning under the 
most cruel and merciless oppression. They were despondent, and traitors 
exultant. I leave the department in security and the people hopeful. I 
know not how long we are to labor for that independence for which we have 
thus far struggled in vain, but this I do know, that I will never weary in de- 
fending our cause, which must ultimately succeed. Faith is the duty of the 
hour. We will succeed. We have only to ' work and wait.' Be assured, 
my dear general, that wherever I may go, I shall deeply sympathize in ail 
that concerns your interest and always exult in your success. 

" With great respect, I am, General, your friend and obedient servant, 

" N. B. Forrest, Major-General," 



CHAPTER XX 

THE NASHVILLE CAMPAIGN — NOVEMBER 19-DECEMBER 27, 1 864 

Forrest Arrives at Florence and is Placed in Command of All the Cavalry of the Army 
of Tennessee — March Towards Nashville Begun — Cold and Stormy Weather — No- 
vember 22d Fighting Begins Near Lawrenceburg, and is Continued on the 23d Near 
Henryville — Severe Skirmish at Fouche Springs — Forrest's Charge in the Rear 
of the Enemy w^ith His Escort — Narrow Escape of the General — Capture of a Num- 
ber of Union Soldiers — Fighting Daily and Obstinately, the Federals are Driven as 
Far Back as Columbia — Death of the Brave Lieutenant-Colonel Dawson, of the Fif- 
teenth Tennessee, Killed in Hand-to-Hand Combat — The Crossing of Duck River — 
Fight at Spring Hill — Federals Defeated — The Federal Army in Great Peril — Es- 
capes through Failure of the Proper Transmission of Orders from Hood — Investment 
of Franklin — Forrest Makes a Careful Reconnaissance of the Federal Position and 
Advises Hood not to Attack — Offers to Flank Schofield Out of Franklin within Two 
Hours if He is Permitted — Hood Orders the Attack — Terrific Slaughter of the 
Confederates — The Detachment of the Confederate Cavalry on the Left Wing Holds 
its Position — Wilson and Forrest Fight Desperately on the Confederate Right Wing 
— A Drawn Battle as Far as the Cavalry is Concerned — The Death of the Gallant 
Generals Cleburne and John Adams — Large List of Officers Killed and Wounded — 
Confederate Cavalry Pursue the Retreating Federals into Nashville — Infantry Ar- 
rive and Invest the City — Forrest's Cavalry Detailed to Interrupt Navigation on 
the Cumberland — Colonel D. C. Kelley's Rich Capture — General W. H. Jackson's 
Success at Lavergne — General Buford Captures a Block-House on Mill Creek — 
Forrest Directed to Make a Forced Reconnaissance of the Enemy's Position at 
Murfreesborough — He is Attacked in Front of this Place by the Federal Infantry 
and Defeated — The Confederate Infantry Flee Disgracefully — Forrest Shoots a 
Color-Bearer and Rallies the Men — His Cavalry Saved the Day — Defeat of Hood in 
Front of Nashville — Desperate Fighting by Chalmers and Rucker to Protect Hood's 
Rear until Forrest could Arrive — Rucker's Romantic Personal Combat with Colonel 
Spalding — His Right Arm is Shattered and He is Made Prisoner — Heroic Defence 
of the Confederate Position by Chalmers's Troops — Rucker Impresses the Federal 
Commander with the Fact that Forrest is Immediately in His Front — Further Pur- 
suit for that Night Discontinued — This alone Saved the Confederate Army from En- 
tire Destruction — Forrest Takes Command and Organizes the Famous Rear-Guard 
of the Army of Tennessee — Confederates Safely Cross Rutherford Creek and Duck 
River — Have Three Days' Start of Wilson — Forrest Double-Teams the Wagons and 
Artillery and Saves Everything — Desperate Fight at Anthony's Hill and at Sugar 
Creek — Confederates Escape Across the Tennessee — Terrible Condition of the 
Country through which They Pass — Retreat Continued in the Dead of Winter, 
through Snow and Sleet. 

ARRIVING at Florence, General Forrest was placed in com- 
mand of all the cavalry with the Army of Tennessee. In 
addition to the troops which had been serving with him in 
west Tennessee, this gave him a division under General W. H. 

534 




BRlCADIKR-dKNEUAL W. H. JACKSON 
Commaiidiiii; iJivision of Forrest's Cavalry 






MARCHING TOWARDS NASHVILLE 

Jackson and a fragment of Dibrell's brigade. Some of these had 
served with distinction under Forrest in the famous brigade or- 
ganized shortly after the retreat from Kentucky in 1862, with 
which he had made the successful foray into west Tennessee in 
December of that year. Forrest, with the entire cavalry force of 
Hood's army, numbering five thousand effectives, immediately 
moved out from Florence in advance of the infantry and en- 
camped at Shoal Creek. From this point Buford and Jackson 
were ordered to advance northward over the military road. On 
the following day, the 19th of November, at Butler's Creek a for- 
aging detachment of the Kentuckians came in collision with a bri- 
gade of Union cavalry under Colonel Datus Coon, of Hatch's di- 
vision, which pounced down upon the Confederates so vigorously 
that the latter gave way, abandoning to the Union troopers one 
or two wagons from General Buford's headquarters train. By a 
rapid and successful movement on the part of General Frank C. 
Armstrong, of Jackson's division, who was near enough to hear 
the fighting, and with characteristic alacrity marched towards 
it, the Federals were caught between Armstrong's brigade and 
Buford's men, who had rallied promptly after the first flurry of 
surprise, and so roughly handled was the Federal brigade that it 
sought safety in flight, leaving several prisoners in the hands of 
the victors. In this affair the brave Colonel Edward Crossland, 
who had scarcely recovered from the painful injuries received at 
the battle of Harrisburg in July, was again severely wounded. 

Despite the weather, which was exceedingly inclement, on the 
2 1st of November Forrest, with the remaining division under 
Chalmers, set out on the march towards Nashville. His force 
consisted of the three divisions under his able lieutenants, Chal- 
mers, Buford, and Jackson. Chalmers's division, with Forrest, 
took the road by way of West Point and Kelley's Forge to Hen- 
ryville, which latter place they reached on the 23d. Meanwhile, 
on the 22d, Buford and Jackson arrived at Lawrenceburg, where 
they had again encountered a portion of Wilson's cavalry, which, 
however, offered but slight resistance, and retreated towards 
Pulaski. That Forrest, with wonted vigor and success, was car- 
rying everything before him is gracefully recorded by Colonel 
Henry Stone, United States Army, an officer on the staff of Gen- 
eral George H. Thomas, who says : " The Confederate army be- 

535 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

gan its northward march from Florence on the 19th of Novem- 
ber, in weather of great severity. It rained and snowed and 
hailed and froze. Forrest had come up with about six thou- 
sand cavalry, and led the advance with indomitable energy. 
Hatch and Cox made such resistance as they could, but on the 
22d the head of Hood's column was at Lawrenceburg, sixteen 
miles west of Pulaski," * 

On the 23d of November, at Henryville, Chalmers's division 
came in contact with another column of the Union cavalry, and 
drove them after slight resistance through and beyond this town 
for a distance of several miles. Finally, at Fouch^ Springs, the 
Federals were found drawn up in line of battle in considerable force. 
Taking command of that portion of Chalmers's division which was 
immediately on the field, General Forrest directed Rucker to go 
forward with his brigade and to skirmish lightly with the enemy, 
and to hold them where they were until he could gain their flank 
and rear. Colonel D. C. Kelley, with his battalion, was sent around 
the left flank of the Federals, while Forrest, placing himself at 
the head of the escort, about eighty in number, made a rapid 
d6tour to the right of the Union line, in order to gain their rear 
in this direction. Moving with celerity, Forrest soon found him- 
self far to the rear of the Federal line, which was then skirmish- 
ing with Rucker. The Union commander evidently did not be- 
lieve that the Confederates were in force in his front, nor that he 
would be seriously attacked at so late an hour. In any event, 
Forrest, while it was yet light, found himself in sight of a consid- 
erable body of the enemy's cavalry who had dismounted, unsaddled 
their horses, and were building fires preparatory to going into 
camp for the night. His presence so far in their rear was entirely 
unsuspected, and, notwithstanding that his force was numerically 
much inferior to the Federals, seeing that they were thoroughly un- 
prepared to make any resistance, with that boldness which was 
characteristic of his leadership, at the head of the escort he rode 
at full speed into their encampment, firing right and left with pis- 
tols at short range, throwing the enemy into such confusion that 
they broke and scattered in all directions. 

Forrest says in his official report : " Taking with me my escort 

* Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, vol. iv. 
536 



SKIRMISH AT FOUCHfi SPRINGS 

I moved rapidly to the rear. Lieutenant-Colonel Kelley being 
prevented from joining me as I had expected, I made the charge 
upon the enemy with my escort alone, producing a perfect stam- 
pede, capturing about fifty prisoners, twenty horses, and one am- 
bulance."* It was so near dark by the time this charge was made 
that the Federals had no means of knowing how few their assail- 
ants were, but as they yielded so readily they probably believed, 
from the vigor and boldness of the assault, that the Confederates 
were in strong force. At the same time Rucker, hearing the fir- 
ing from Forrest's attack, now, as agreed upon, charged from the 
front and drove them from the field in great confusion. The 
Federals, fleeing before Rucker, bore down upon Forrest and his 
escort in such a throng that he was compelled to turn off into 
a by-road for fear of being run into by a detachment too large 
for him to cope with. Notwithstanding this precaution, while 
riding at the head of the escort, side by side with Major Strange, 
his adjutant-general, they suddenly came upon a squadron of Fed- 
erals led by an officer, who ordered the Confederates to halt. 
Paying no attention to the command, Forrest continued boldly to 
approach, and it was only when they were practically in touch 
that in the darkness it was discovered that they were Federals. 
The Union officer quickly levelled his pistol at Forrest, the muz- 
zle of which was almost in touch with the general's body, and 
was just in the act of firing when Major Strange, by a quick move- 
ment of the hand, knocked the weapon of the plucky Federal up- 
ward so that as it exploded it missed its aim. By this time the 
escort, with pistols in hand, had closed up on the Federal detach- 
ment, who, seeing that they were outnumbered, immediately sur- 
rendered.f 

Early on the following morning Rucker continued his march to 
Mount Pleasant, where he captured thirty-five thousand rounds of 
small-arm ammunition, together with the guard left in charge. 
From this point the stubborn enemy was pursued to the suburbs 
of Columbia, where, in a desperate hand-to-hand fight with a small 
but determined detachment of Union cavalry, the brave Colonel 
W. A. Dawson, who may be remembered as having been placed 

* Official Records, vo\. xlv. part i. p. 752. 
t Manuscripts of Lieutenant G. L. Cowan, of Forrest's escort. 

537 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

in charge of the gunboats which Forrest had captured on the 
Tennessee River near Johnsonville a few weeks earlier, and had 
acquitted himself most gallantly, was killed in a hand-to-hand en- 
counter with the Union color-guard. Chalmers says : " In this 
pursuit Lieutenant-Colonel Dawson, of the Fifteenth Tennessee, 
was killed while leading his regiment in the charge. He had 
emptied his revolver and was endeavoring to wrest one of the en- 
emy's flags from its bearer when he was killed."* 

Brigadier-Generals Buford and Jackson, from Lawrenceburg, had 
steadily driven the Federals towards Pulaski, and at Campbells- 
ville engaged Edward Hatch's division, which after a short but 
vigorous resistance was driven from the field. 

Arriving in front of Columbia on the 24th, General Forrest in- 
vested this place, and held his position here until the morning of 
the 27th, when, on the approach of Hood's infantry, the Federals 
evacuated the town, and on the 28th the main portion of the Con- 
federate cavalry crossed Duck River — Chalmers's division at 
Carr's Mill, Jackson's at Holland's ford, while General Forrest 
crossed at Owen's with the remainder of the troops. The bold- 
ness and rapidity of Forrest in leading Hood's invasion had given 
General Thomas at Nashville good reason for concern as to the 
safety of his troops south of Duck River. 

A Federal writer says : " The situation at Pulaski was anything 
but cheering. Thomas directed Schofield to fall back with two 
divisions to Columbia on the 22d. On the 23d the other two di- 
visions under Stanley were to follow. It was not a moment too 
soon. On the morning of the 24th General Cox, who had pushed 
on to within nine miles of Columbia, was aroused by sounds of 
conflict away to the west. Taking a cross-road leading south of 
Columbia, he reached the Mount Pleasant pike just in time to in- 
terpose his infantry between Forrest's cavalry and a hapless bri- 
gade under command of Colonel Capron, which was being handled 
most unceremoniously. In another hour Forrest would have been 
in possession of the crossings of Duck River, and the only line of 
communication with Nashville would have been in the hands of 
the enemy." f 

* Official Records, vol. xlv. part i. p. 763. 

t Colonel Stone, of General Thomas's staff, Battles and Leaders of the 
Civil War, vol. iv. 

538 




BRIGADIER-GENERAL JAMES R. CHALMERS 



CROSSES DUCK RIVER 

Major Henry C. Connelly, of the Fourteenth Illinois Cavalry, 
on August 8, 1887, wrote to the editors of the Century Magazine, 
describing this attack of Forrest : " Capron's brigade was on the 
extreme right of our army, and from the 19th of November until 
the 24th, the day Columbia was reached, we fought Forrest's cav- 
alry. I was with the rear-guard on the occasion referred to: it 
fell back and found the brigade in good position in line of battle. 
I rode to Colonel Capron and expressed the opinion that he 
could not hold his position a moment against the troops pressing 
us in the rear and on the flanks, which we could easily see ad- 
vancing rapidly to attack us. Capron replied that he had been 
ordered to make a decided stand if it sacrificed every man in his 
brigade ; that we must hold the advancing forces in check to 
enable the infantry to arrive and get in position. I replied : * We 
are destroyed and captured if we remain here.' While passing 
through a long lane south of Columbia, Forrest's forces charged 
the brigade in rear and on both flanks with intrepid courage. Our 
command was confined to a narrow lane, with men and horses in 
the highest state of excitement. We were armed with Spring- 
field rifles, which after the first volley were about as serviceable 
to cavalry as a good club. The men could not reload while 
mounted, in the excitement of horses as well as soldiers. The 
only thing that could be done was to get out as promptly as 
possible and before Forrest's forces should close in and capture 
the command. The brigade was composed of the Fourteenth and 
Sixteenth Illinois and Eighth Michigan Cavalry." 

The Confederate leader was pushing northward with such vigor 
that Colonel Stone further says : " In spite of every opposition, 
Forrest succeeded in placing one of his divisions on the north side 
of Duck River before noon of the 28th and forced back the Union 
cavalry on the roads leading towards Spring Hill and Franklin." 

By the night of the 28th, Forrest, with Chalmers's division, had 
advanced boldly eight miles beyond Columbia on the Spring Hill 
and Carr's Mill road. It was here that he was much disappointed 
by receiving a despatch from Buford, at eleven o'clock that night, 
informing him that the enemy had made such stubborn resistance 
to his crossing that he would be unable to join him before the 
morning of the 29th. Meanwhile Jackson was directed to move 
along the Lewisburg pike towards Franklin until he developed the 

539 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

enemy. It was not long before Armstrong, of Jackson's division, 
sent word back that he had struck them in force and awaited in- 
structions. He was ordered not to press too vigorously, as For- 
rest, if he could hold them still where they were, would endeavor 
to gain their flank and rear with Chalmers's division. Forrest 
then moved rapidly towards Spring Hill with his entire command. 
Two miles from this place the Union pickets were encountered, 
and soon heavy skirmishing began, and Buford, with Chalmers's 
division, advanced upon the position of the enemy. The Federals, 
however, were very strongly posted, and stood their ground so 
manfully that the Confederates were compelled to fall back. A 
strong barricade had been erected by the Union troopers here, 
who had also been reinforced by Coon's brigade of Hatch's di- 
vision. Forrest now dismounted his entire command, and, mak- 
ing his usual flank movement, succeeded in dislodging the enemy. 

General James H. Wilson, commanding the Union cavalry, 
speaking of this, says: "Heavy skirmishing ensued, the enemy 
pressing forward with the greatest celerity, endeavoring to push 
around and strike our column in flank."* 

The Confederates were now ordered to press the enemy with 
all possible vigor. A courier was sent to General Buford to de- 
spatch a mounted regiment at once, and this, the Twenty-first 
Tennessee, under Colonel Wilson, coming in sight, Forrest or- 
dered a charge, which was gallantly made ; Wilson at the head of 
his splendid regiment, riding across the open field, received three 
wounds, but refused to leave his command. The fight by this 
time had become general and brisk, as Forrest had received word 
from General Hood to hold the position at all hazards, as the ad- 
vance of his infantry column was only two miles distant and 
rapidly approaching. Bell's brigade having arrived, it was de- 
ployed immediately and ordered to the attack. Following this 
came Chalmers's division, which moved upon the enemy from the 
Confederate left. As the troops advanced, Bell reported to his 
commander that he had only four rounds of ammunition to the 
man, but, despite this, he was ordered to charge the enemy. 

Forrest says: "This order was executed with a promptness 
and energy and gallantry which I have never seen excelled. The 

* Official Records, vol. xlv. part i. p. 550. 
540 



ACCOUNT OF FIGHT AT SPRING HILL 

enemy was driven from his rifle-pits, and fled towards Spring Hill."* 
General Jackson was now ordered to move rapidly with his division 
towards Thompson's station, and to throw himself across the line 
of retreat of the Union army. He struck the road at ii P.M., just 
as the front of the enemy's column was passing, and attacked at 
once. He held possession of the pike, and fought the enemy until 
near daylight, when, receiving no support, he was compelled to retire. 
Colonel Stone (already quoted) says : ** As Stanley was ap- 
proaching Spring Hill, just before noon, he met a cavalry soldier 
who seemed to be badly scared, and reported that Buford's di- 
vision of Forrest's cavalry was approaching from the east. The 
troops were at once double-quicked into the town, and the lead- 
ing brigade, deploying as it advanced, drove oE the enemy. The 
possession of Spring Hill would not only shut out the Union 
army from the roads to Nashville, but would effectually bar the 
way in every direction. Stanley's arrival was not a moment too 
soon for the safety of the army. The three brigades had hardly 
reached their position when they were attacked by the Confed- 
erates. At the same time a dash was made by a detachment of 
the Confederate cavalry on the Spring Hill station, northwest of 
the town. It seemed as if the little band, attacked from all 
points, was threatened with destruction. The third assault on 
the Federals was more successful, and they were driven back to 
the edge of the village. Except this one small division, deployed 
in a long, thin line to cover the wagons, there were no Union 
troops within striking distance. The cavalry were at Mount Car- 
mel, five miles east, and fully occupied in keeping Forrest away 
from Franklin and the Harpeth River crossings. The nearest aid 
was Kimball's division, seven miles south, at Rutherford's Creek. 
The other three divisions which made up Schofield's force — 
Woods's, Cox's, and Ruger's — were still at Duck River. A single 
Confederate brigade planted squarely across the pike either south 
or north of Spring Hill would have effectually prevented Scho- 
field's retreat, and daylight would have found his whole force cut 
off from every avenue of escape by more than twice its numbers, 
to assault whom would have been madness and to avoid whom 
would have been impossible." 

* Official Records, vol. xlv. part i. p. 753. 
541 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

It was upon this momentous occasion, when General Jackson 
was making his gallant fight to retain possession of the pike and cut 
off the Federals, that Hood, with Cheatham's corps, was in such 
close striking distance to the line of retreat ; and had these troops 
been thrown boldly and vigorously upon the enemy, the over- 
throw of the Union army would without any doubt have been ac- 
complished, and the success of Hood's campaign in Tennessee 
and Kentucky would have been assured. As already shown, the 
Confederates on the ground greatly outnumbered the Federals, 
and the troops of Cheatham and Cleburne were among the best 
fighters in the Southern army. It was concerning this failure to 
take advantage of one of the most brilliant opportunities ever 
offered a commanding officer that such a bitter controversy sub- 
sequently arose between Generals Hood and Cheatham. 

Speaking of this incident, Major- General David S. Stanley 
says : " Many of our men were overtaxed and broken down, and 
fell into the hands of the enemy. On two occasions they were 
very near obtaining the advantage sought. The greatest escape 
for us was at Spring Hill, where, with a whole corps in line of 
battle, the left of the line within six hundred yards of the road, 
they allowed all our army, excepting Wagner's division, to pass 
them with impunity in the night." * 

So close to the turnpike along which the Federals marched 
during the night were the Confederates posted that the conver- 
sation of the troops moving on the highway was distinctly over- 
heard by the Confederate pickets.f 

Lieutenant-General Hood, in his official report, says : " When 
I had gotten well on his flank the enemy discovered my intention, 
and began to retreat on the pike towards Spring Hill. The cav- 
alry became engaged near that place about mid-day, but his trains 
were so strongly guarded that they were unable to break through 
them. About 4 P.M. (29th) our infantry forces, Major-General 
Cheatham in the advance, commenced to come in contact with the 
enemy, about two miles from Spring Hill, through which place 
the Columbia and Franklin pike runs. The enemy was at this 
time moving rapidly along the pike, with some of his troops 

* Official Records, vol. xlv. part i. p. 117. 

+ Persona\ communication from Captain P. H. Coleman, First Florida In- 
fantry, in charge of Confederate pickets on this occasion. 

542 



DEFEAT OF FEDERALS AT SPRING HILL 

formed on the flank of his column to protect it. Major-General 
Cheatham was ordered to attack the enemy at once vigorously, 
and get possession of this pike, and although these orders were 
frequently and earnestly repeated, he made but a feeble and par- 
tial attack, failing to reach the point indicated. Had my in- 
structions been carried out there is no doubt that we should have 
possessed ourselves of this road. Stewart's corps and Johnson's 
division were arriving upon the field to support the attack. 
Though the golden opportunity had passed with daylight, I did 
not at dark abandon the hope of dealing the enemy a heavy 
blow."* 

On the morning of the 30th the entire cavalry was ordered to 
press the enemy on the Franklin pike. This was vigorously done, 
the Federals retiring to Winstead's Hill, where they again offered 
resistance, and from their point of vantage held Forrest at arm's- 
length until the infantry arrived, when the Union troops aban- 

* In justice to the memory of the gallant Cheatham it should be stated 
vthat, as shown by the following letter from Governor Harris, the order which 
General Hood sent him was not delivered by the staff-officer to whom it was 
intrusted until too late for General Cheatham to have executed it as directed : 

" Governor James D. Porter : 

" Dear Sir, — General Hood, on the march to Franklin, spoke to me in 
the presence of Major (Lieutenant-Colonel A. P.) Mason (Assistant Adjutant- 
General, Army of Tennessee) of the failure of General Cheatham to make 
the night attack at Spring Hill, and censured him in severe terms for his 
disobedience of orders. Soon after this, being alone with Major Mason, 
the latter remarked that ' General Cheatham was not to blame about the 
matter last night. I did not send him the order.' I asked if he had com- 

imunicated the fact to General Hood. He answered that he had not. I 
replied that ' it is due General Cheatham that this explanation should 
be made.' Thereupon Major Mason joined General Hood and gave him 

ithe information. Afterwards General Hood said to me that he had done 

|injustice to General Cheatham, and requested me to inform him that he 
held him blameless for the failure at Spring Hill; and on the day following 

j the battle of Franklin I was informed by General Hood that he had ad- 
dressed a note to General Cheatham assuring him that he did not cen- 
sure him with the failure to attack. 

" Very respectfully, 

"IsHAM G. Harris. 
"Memphis, Tennessee, May 20, 1877." 

—Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, vol. iv. p. 432. 
543 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

doned their position and took refuge behind the fortifications in 
Franklin. 

General Forrest, as was his invariable practice, immediately 
proceeded to make a thorough personal reconnaissance of the 
position occupied by the enemy. 

Chalmers, in his address before the Southern Historical Society 
in August, 1879, says: "Without knowing it, he was following 
Napier's precept of the art of war, always in front making per- 
sonal observations. This practice brought him into many per- 
sonal conflicts and exposed him to constant danger. It led to 
imitation by his general ofificers, and near Franklin I witnessed 
Forrest with two division and three brigade commanders all on 
the skirmish-line." 

When General Hood arrived upon the field, which was about 
one o'clock in the afternoon, Forrest reported to him that the 
position of the Federals was exceedingly formidable, and that in 
his opinion it could not be taken by direct assault, except after 
great and unnecessary loss of life. General Hood replied : " I 
do not think the Federals will stand strong pressure from the 
front ; the show of force they are making is a feint in order 
to hold me back from a more vigorous pursuit." Still main- 
taining his position, Forrest remarked : " General Hood, if you 
will give me one strong division of infantry with my cavalry, I 
will agree to flank the Federals from their works within two 
hours' time." 

Hood's reply to this was a direction to General Forrest to take 
charge of the cavalry for the battle which had been ordered.* 
These orders were for Forrest to post cavalry on both flanks, 
and, if the assault proved successful, to complete the ruin of the 
enemy by capturing those who attempted to escape in the direc- 
tion of Nashville.f 

By three o'clock on the afternoon of November 30th two corps 
of Hood's infantry were up and were taking position, while the 
third corps, under General S. D. Lee, was held in reserve. Cheat- 
ham's corps formed the Confederate left, and Stewart's the right. 
Under instructions, Forrest placed Jackson's and Buford's divi- 

\ 
* Letter from Rev. D. C. Kelley to author. 

t Advance and Retreat, by Lieutenant-General J. B. Hood. 
544 



THE ATTACK ON FRANKLIN 

'sions immediately on the right of Stewart's line of battle, while 
Chalmers's division, with the fragment of a brigade under BifHe, 
<was placed on the extreme left of Cheatham's corps along the 
Carter's Creek pike. Buford's men were at first deployed in im- 
mediate contact with Stewart's right wing, and on the south side 
of the Harpeth River; somewhat eastward of Franklin along the 
-Lewisburg pike, and between this highway and the river, Jack- 
son's command were thrown boldly across to the north bank 
"of the Harpeth, where they were immediately confronted by 
Wilson's cavalry in superior force. As the Confederate infantry 
moved upon the Union breastworks the cavalry on either flank 
joined in the advance. Upon the extreme left of the Con- 
federate line Chalmers became heavily engaged with an infan- 
'try force posted behind a formidable stone wall, strengthened 
by hastily constructed breastworks of earth, from which he was 
unable to dislodge them. Advancing as close as possible to 
itheir line, he ordered his men to protect themselves in every 
'way possible, and to maintain a constant fire in order to hold 
the enemy employed there. On the Confederate right wing, 
'Forrest, who was in immediate command, with Buford and Jack- 
son, had already encountered Wilson's cavalry and some infantry 
which were posted in an advanced position on Schofield's left. 
Buford, pushing forward with his accustomed pluck and deter- 
mination, had soon driven the Federal cavalry and infantry which 
were confronting him to the northern bank of the Harpeth, which 
his dismounted troops immediately waded and effected a junc- 
tion with Jackson and Forrest, who were already across. The 
fighting now became extremely severe on this part of the line. 
General James H. Wilson, who was in command of the Union 
cavalry, says that, simultaneously with the assault of Hood's 
infantry, Buford's and Jackson's divisions, under Forrest, ad- 
vanced to the attack, drove back Croxton's brigade from the 
Lewisburg turnpike north of the Harpeth River, when he im- 
mediately despatched Hatch's, Johnson's, and Harrison's troops 
to cover and watch the fords and protect the left and rear of 
Schofield's army. " Realizing the importance of holding this 
position, as soon as the rebel cavalry had made their appear- 
ance on the north side of the river, which properly formed the 
5 real line of defence for the Union army, I ordered Hatch and 
2M 545 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

Croxton to attack the enemy with vigor and drive him into the 
river if possible, while Harrison, with Capron's old brigade, would 
look well to the left and rear. The occasion was a grave one. 
My subordinate commanders dismounted every man that could 
be spared, and went in with a rush that was irresistible. Towards 
the middle of the afternoon the fighting became exceedingly sharp. 
The enemy's troopers fought with their accustomed gallantry, but 
the Union cavalrymen, outnumbering their antagonists for the 
first time, and skilfully directed, swept everything before them. 
Upon this occasion Hood made a fatal mistake, for it will be ob- 
served that he had detached Forrest, with two divisions of his 
corps, on a side operation, which left him only Chalmers's divi- 
sion to co-operate with the main attack of his infantry. Had his 
whole cavalry force advanced against me, it is possible that it 
would have succeeded in driving us back." 

The battle between the two forces of cavalry raged with great 
fury until nightfall, and Wilson was unable, notwithstanding his 
superior force upon this part of the battle-field, to drive the Con- 
federates south of the river until dark, when Forrest, having been 
informed of the failure on the part of Hood to dislodge the Fed- 
eral infantry from its position in Franklin, withdrew his troops 
to the south side of the Harpeth. 

From about four o'clock until dark the battle of Franklin raged 
with unsurpassed fury. It has passed into history as one of the 
bloodiest battles of the Civil War as far as the Confederates were 
concerned. Never in the history of any war did troops, both ofificers 
and men, fight with more desperate valor than upon this field of 
slaughter. The generals vied with the enlisted men in the reck- 
lessness with which they offered up their lives in the heroic yet 
vain struggle for victory. Here fell the immortal Cleburne, and 
here John Adams, intent on victory, found undying glory in a 
soldier's death, his horse falling lifeless across the enemy's breast- 
works, and he, sword in hand, dying in their midst. 

Though the Confederates did not succeed in carrying all points 
of the Federal breastworks, they effected an entrance at one or 
two points, and maintained their position until late in the night, 
when the enemy left the field and retreated towards Nashville. 

General Hood's report might well have been written in blood: 
** We captured about one thousand prisoners and several stands 

546 



PURSUING THE ENEMY TOWARDS NASHVILLE 

of colors. Our loss in killed, wounded, and prisoners was forty- 
five hundred. Among the killed were Major-General P. R. Cle- 
burne, Brigadier-Generals Gist, John Adams, Strahl, and Granbury. 
Major - General Brown, Brigadier - Generals Carter, Manigault, 
Quarles, Cockrell, and Scott were wounded, and Brigadier - Gen- 
eral Gordon captured." 

The Union army marched northward, " Forrest, with his cav- 
alry, pursuing the enemy vigorously."* Chalmers moved across 
to the Hillsborough pike, and along that to a point opposite Brent- 
wood, where he crossed over to the Franklin pike. Arriving with- 
in four miles of Nashville, he encamped for the night. 

Moving with Buford and Jackson, General Forrest at daylight 
on the 1st also crossed the Harpeth River, and, advancing up the 
Wilson pike, struck the enemy in strong force at Wilson's Cross- 
Roads. Morton was directed to open upon them with one of his 
batteries. Forrest ordered General Buford to charge, which order 
he executed with great gallantry, dislodging the enemy and capt- 
uring several prisoners. Without further resistance a portion of 
Forrest's command continued its march towards Nashville. 

On the 2d of December the troops under Chalmers were thrown 
out along the Hillsborough and Hardin pikes, while Forrest di- 
rected Buford to take his division to Mill Creek and form in line 
of battle across the Murfreesborough highway. Jackson's division 
was ordered to take position so as to cover the Nashville and Mill 
Creek pike. When the infantry arrived, late in the afternoon. 
General Forrest proceeded to operate upon the various block- 
houses and detached garrisons in the immediate neighborhood 
of Nashville, and to interfere with navigation on the Cumber- 
land River below that point. Lieutenant-Colonel D. C. Kelley, 
with a detachment of three hundred men and two pieces of artil- 
lery, reached this stream at a point about twelve miles from Nash- 
ville, where this gallant and efficient officer, arriving unexpected- 
ly, captured two transports laden with horses and other property 
belonging to the United States government. The horses he 
hastened to unload; but before he had succeeded in getting all 
of the cargo on shore, the enemy's gunboats, coming down from 
Nashville, recaptured the transports and a portion of the freight. 

* Official Records, vol. xlv. part i. p. 659. 
547 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

Kelley brought off fifty-six prisoners and one hundred and ninety- 
seven horses and mules. On this same day (December 3d), For- 
rest, with Bu ford's division, had succeeded in capturing stock- 
ade No. 2, with eighty prisoners, besides killing and wounding sev- 
eral more by the opening shots from Morton's battery. While 
this attack was in progress a train of cars loaded with troops came 
in sight at a considerable distance down the road, and before the 
engineer could reverse his engine and escape it was crippled by 
Forrest's skilful artillerists. The Union troops, meanwhile, be- 
fore the Confederates could arrive, had stampeded from the train, 
and, scattering in the woods, almost the entire command escaped 
capture. 

On the 4th of December Buford's division captured block-house 
No. I on Mill Creek, and No. 3, with thirty-two prisoners. After 
this, under orders from Hood, Forrest, with Buford's and Jack- 
son's divisions, proceeded towards Murfreesborough, where he was 
engaged in picketing along the line of the Nashville and Chatta- 
nooga railroad and as far north as the Cumberland River. 

General W. H. Jackson, on December 5th, captured near La- 
vergne a redoubt with the garrison of eighty men, two pieces of 
artillery, a number of wagons, and a considerable supply of gov- 
ernment stores. Another detachment of the cavalry succeeded 
in capturing a block-house near Smyrna station, adding thirty-five 
prisoners to the list of those already taken on this day. It was 
here, on the evening of the 5th, that Major-General Bate arrived 
with his infantry division, having been ordered to report to Gen- 
eral Forrest, and to operate under his directions upon the enemy's 
forces in and about Murfreesborough. 

Forrest, in his ofificial report, says : " Four miles from Lavergne 
I formed a junction with Major-General Bate, who had been or- 
dered to report to me with his division for the purpose of operat- 
ing against Murfreesborough. I ordered General Jackson to send 
a brigade across to the Wilkinson pike, and, moving on both pikes, 
the enemy was driven into his works. After ordering General 
Buford to picket from the Nashville and Murfreesborough to the 
Lebanon pikes on the left, and Jackson to picket on the right to 
the Salem pike, I encamped for the night."* 

* Official Records, vol. xlv. part i. p. 755. 
548 



EXCITING GRANT'S APPREHENSION 

At this time the other division of Forrest's cavalry, under Chal- 
mers, was still operating northward on the line of the Cumberland. 
On the 6th of December an infantry force having been sent to 
relieve Colonel Rucker, who with his small brigade was operating 
on the Hillsborough pike, Chalmers moved to the Charlotte pike 
to assist in the blockade of the Cumberland. 

On the morning of the 7th a monitor appeared in front of the 
Confederate guns and attempted to force the passage of the river, 
but was badly damaged and driven back, and on several subse- 
quent occasions several gunboats repeated the attempt without 
success. Here Chalmers remained, effectually closing the Cum- 
berland to all transports until the 12th of December. 

The boldness and activity of Forrest's command excited the 
apprehension of General Grant, who, as commander-in-chief of the 
armies of the United States, was showing considerable irritation at 
the delay of Thomas in attacking Hood in front of Nashville, and 
was justly fearful that if Forrest should throw his troops across 
the Cumberland River it might cause Thomas to retreat in the 
direction of Louisville. On December 2d, in a despatch to Stan- 
ton, he says : " It looks as if Forrest would flank around Thomas 
until Thomas is equal to him in cavalry." On the 5th he tele- 
graphed Thomas direct : " Is there not danger of Forrest moving 
down the Cumberland to where he can cross it ? It seems to me 
while you should be getting up your cavalry as rapidly as pos- 
sible to look after Forrest, Hood should be attacked where he is." 
Thomas immediately replied : " I have no doubt Forrest will at- 
tempt to cross the river, but I am in hopes the gunboats will be 
able to prevent him." 

On the loth of this month General McLean despatched : 
" There is a rumor that Forrest has crossed the Cumberland. 
Keep scouts out as far as possible in the direction of Nashville. 
Should a force approach, destroy the pontoons and fall back." 

While Thomas had established his headquarters with the re- 
serves at Nashville, in addition to throwing Schofield's column 
forward as far south as Columbia on Duck River (which army we 
have followed on their retreat to Franklin, and from this battle- 
ground to Nashville), he had posted General Lovell H. Rousseau 
in Murfreesborough, with about seven thousand infantry, cavalry, 
and artillery, and had strongly fortified this position. As soon as 

549 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

the Confederates reached the vicinity of Nashville, General Hood 
had skilfully manoeuvred so as to cut off the troops under Rous- 
seau from communication with those in Nashville under Thomas 
and Schofield. 

On December 6th General Forrest determined upon a forced 
reconnaissance of the enemy's works at Murfreesborough, and ad- 
vanced in line of battle, his force consisting of Jackson's and Bu- 
ford's divisions of his own command, and Bate's division of in- 
fantry, and the two brigades additional under Sears and Palmer. 
Driving the Federal pickets and skirmishers in, the Confederates 
advanced, and, after some two hours of light skirmishing, the 
Union troops retired within their intrenchments, ceased firing, 
and showed no further disposition to give battle. Forrest or- 
dered the Confederates to remain in line, while he, with a single 
regiment, made a careful inspection of the fortress, which con- 
vinced him that the Federal position was too strong to justify a 
direct assault. He therefore determined to attempt nothing more 
than to hold the Federal forces here engaged, and to prevent 
their union with Thomas in Nashville until he could receive fur- 
ther instructions from General Hood. The Union commander, 
General Lovell H. Rousseau, had, however, determined upon the 
offensive, and, on the morning of the 7th, Forrest, who was sta- 
tioned with Palmer's brigade of infantry, observed the Federals 
moving out in strong force on the Salem pike, with infantry, cav- 
alry, and artillery. He immediately withdrew his command 
something over a mile to the Wilkinson pike, and formed there 
a new line in a more favorable position. His chief object in this 
retrograde movement was to entice the Union troops sufificiently 
far from their base in Murfreesborough to permit him to throw 
Jackson's and Buford's divisions between them and their strong- 
hold, and capture them, when he, with the infantry, upon which 
he felt that he could implicitly rely, should have beaten them in 
front. These he directed to throw up such temporary protec- 
tion as they could ; and this was hastily done, a very satisfac- 
tory line of breastworks being constructed from rails, logs, and 
stones, and here, in strong position and in fancied security, he 
calmly awaited the approach of the attacking force. This force, 
as given in the official records, consisted of two brigades of in- 
fantry and 1326 cavalry, all under the immediate command of 

550 



ATTACKED BEFORE M U R FREES BO ROUG H 

Major -General R. H. Milroy. His troops moved out on the 
Salem pike about ten o'clock in the morning, with the Fifth Ten- 
nessee (Union) Cavalry in advance. Advancing to within one- 
half mile of the Wilkinson pike, after a spirited artillery duel 
lasting about thirty minutes, the Federal commander fell back 
into a thick wood, until he was out of sight of the Confederate 
line of battle. He had evidently found this too strong in his 
front to justify a direct assault. Taking advantage of the cover- 
ing afforded by the thick wood, General Milroy moved by the 
right flank in a northeasterly direction, until his line of battle was 
astride the Wilkinson pike, and here in double alignment his 
troops were formed. To meet this movement of the enemy, For- 
rest was compelled to make a change of front by withdrawing a 
portion of his line and placing it directly across the pike in the 
path of the advancing Federals. Riding hastily along the line, 
he addressed the infantry with encouraging words, telling them 
that they were fully as strong as the attacking party, and that in 
addition he had his cavalry ready to gain their rear and cut them 
to pieces and capture the entire command the moment they were 
repulsed. 

Captain P. H. Coleman, of the First Florida Infantry, says: 
" General Forrest rode to where my company was in position and 
said by way of encouragement to us : ' Men, all I ask of you is to 
hold the enemy back for fifteen minutes, which will give me suf- 
ficient time to gain their rear with my cavalry, and I will capture 
the last one of them.'"* 

Advancing with great gallantry, the Federals, only halting to 
deliver their volleys, came on in short range of the Confederate 
infantry, when, to the great surprise and dismay of Generals For- 
rest and Bate, these soldiers, who had stood their ground and 
fought with wonderful valor on other fields, broke in disorder and 
fled in wild panic. Forrest reports : " The enemy moved boldly 
forward, driving in my pickets, when the infantry, with the ex- 
ception of Smith's brigade, from some cause which I cannot ex- 
plain, made a shameful retreat, losing two pieces of our artillery. 
I seized the colors of the retreating troops and endeavored to 
rally them, but they could not be moved by any entreaty or ap- 

* Manuscripts of Captain P. H. Coleman, in possession of the author. 

551 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

peal to their patriotism. Major-General Bate did the same thing, 
but was equally as unsuccessful as myself. I hurriedly sent Ma- 
jor Strange, of my staff, to Brigadier -Generals Armstrong and 
Ross, of Jackson's division, with orders to say to them that every- 
thing depended on their cavalry. They proved themselves equal 
to the emergency by charging on the enemy, thereby checking his 
further advance." 

General Hood says: "I had sent Major-General Forrest, with 
the greatest part of his cavalry and Bate's division of infantry, to 
Murfreesborough, to ascertain if it was possible to take the place. 
After a careful examination and reconnaissance in force, in which 
I am sorry to say the infantry behaved badly, it was determined 
that nothing could be accomplished by assault. Bate's division 
was then withdrawn, leaving Forrest with Jackson's and Buford's 
divisions of cavalry in observation. Mercer's and Palmer's bri- 
gades of infantry were sent to replace Bate's division."* 

Forrest was wild with fury at the behavior of the infantry, and 
took it upon himself to resent personally their shameful con- 
duct. While they were running from the field he dashed in among 
them, commanding and entreating them to rally and again face 
the enemy. Mr. W. A. Calloway, of Atlanta, Georgia, who was 
an artillerist in Young's battery on this important part of the field 
at that time, says : " I was an eye-witness to an interesting inci- 
dent of this fight at Murfreesborough. During the stampede or re- 
"X^ treat, which almost amounted to a panic, Forrest rode in among the 
infantry, ordering the men to rally, and doing all in his power to 
stop the retreat. He rode up and down the lines, shouting, * Rally, 
men — for God's sake, rally !' The panic-stricken soldiers, however, 
paid no heed to the general. Rushing towards a color -bearer 
who was running for dear life, he ordered him to halt. Failing to 
have his command obeyed, he drew his pistol and shot the retreat- 
ing soldier down. Dismounting, Forrest took the colors, remount- 
ed his horse, and, riding in front of the soldiers, waved the colors 
at them and finally succeeded in rallying them to their duty."t 

The resistance offered by the cavalry under Armstrong and 
Ross succeeded in checking the Federals, who immediately retired 

* Official Records, vol. xlv. part i. p. 654. 

t Personal communication in possession of the author. I have received 
a corroboration of this statement of Mr. Calloway from another eye-witness. 

552 



CALLED TO THE HELP OF HOOD 

within their fortifications. The rapid withdrawal into Murfrees- 
borough was in part due to a bold movement of Buford, who, hav- 
ing been ordered by Forrest to operate upon the left of his line, 
had taken advantage of the opportunity which offered to attack 
Murfreesborough from his portion of the field, and had succeeded 
in penetrating well into the heart of the city. This created such 
consternation in the mind of the Federal commander, General 
Rousseau, that he directed Milroy to retreat at once within the 
fortifications. Milroy says that while thus engaged with the Con- 
federates he received a despatch from the general, admonishing 
him of the advance of a large rebel infantry force from the north, 
directing him to return to the fortress. 

On December nth Buford was directed to picket the Cumber- 
land River in the direction of the Hermitage. On the 12th the 
infantry were engaged in destroying the railroad from Lavergne 
to Murfreesborough. On the 13th General Jackson, who had 
been previously ordered to operate south of Murfreesborough, 
again distinguished himself by the capture of a train of seventeen 
cars and the Sixty-first Illinois Regiment of infantry. The train 
was loaded with supplies, and was destroyed. The prisoners, 
about two hundred in number, were sent to the rear. 

On the morning of the 14th General Forrest moved with Olm- 
stead's and Palmer's brigades of infantry northward across Stone 
River and east of Murfreesborough, with the view of capturing 
the enemy's forage train. While on this expedition he re- 
ceived a despatch from Hood that a general engagement was in 
progress in front of Nashville, and directing him to hold himself 
in readiness to move to his assistance at any moment. On the 
morning of the i6th Forrest retired with his entire command to 
the Wilkinson Cross-Roads, six miles from Murfreesborough, and 
here at nightfall he received the first notice of the great disaster 
which had befallen the Confederate forces. This courier also 
brought urgent orders, from the commander-in-chief at Nashville, 
for Forrest to fall back towards Duck River and concentrate the 
cavalry to protect the rear of the beaten army. 

While the operations in and about Murfreesborough were in 
progress, Chalmers's division was still engaged in immediate duty 
with the infantry in front of Nashville. 

On the 1 2th of December Bififle's brigade had been ordered by 

553 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

General Hood to take position on the extreme Confederate right, 
leaving Chalmers in charge of the left of the Confederate line, with 
no other troops than the small brigade of Rucker. Informing 
General Hood of the extreme weakness of his force, and its inabil- 
ity to cover the ground allotted to it, on the 14th the general in 
command reinforced this portion of his alignment with Ector's 
brigade of infantry. 

When the battle of Nashville was precipitated on the morning 
of the 15th of December, 1864, Wilson's corps on the extreme 
Federal right, advancing in largely superior force and with great 
gallantry, struck Ector's brigade of infantry so heavily that this 
officer was compelled to withdraw his command to the main in- 
fantry line, and with such precipitation that he was unable to 
convey to Chalmers, who was still farther to his left, any notice of 
his retreat. The Hardin pike being thus left wide open, General 
Wilson took prompt advantage of the opportunity presented and 
threw forward a strong body of his mounted troopers. Ector's 
infantry had retired eastward to place itself in closer relation to 
Hood's left wing, and there was at this time in front of the Fed- 
eral cavalry a single regiment, the Seventh Alabama, which, though 
fighting bravely, was unable to offer effectual resistance to the 
Union troopers. Advancing some two miles along this highway, 
General Wilson succeeded in capturing Chalmers's headquarters 
wagon and ordnance train before this officer had received any in- 
telligence whatever of the disaster which had befallen Ector. 
The position of Chalmers so far in the rear of the Federal line, 
with the Cumberland River hemming him in on the west, was now 
precarious in the extreme. Wilson was fully informed that For- 
rest, with the two divisions of Jackson and Buford, was absent, at 
or near Murfreesborough, and not in supporting distance. " The 
fortunate absence of Forrest, with a large part of his cavalry, re- 
lieved the operations of the Federal cavalry from the great peril it 
would have otherwise incurred."* 

There can be little doubt that had General Wilson made full 
use of the strong and thoroughly equipped force at his command, 
he might have destroyed Chalmers on this occasion. His reports 
show that during the battle at Nashville his effective force was 

* Official report of General Wilson. 
554 



DEFEAT OF HOOD AT NASHVILLE 

" 12,500 men, having 9000 horses, 2000 of which were scarcely fit 
for service." He says: "At 10 A.M. on the 15th of December, 
the sixth division, under Brigadier-General R. W. Johnson, moved 
on the Charlotte pike, clearing it as far as Davidson's house, driv- 
ing a battery and a part of Chalmers's division of cavalry from 
their position on Richland Creek. Croxton's brigade formed on 
the left of the sixth, between the Hardin and Charlotte pikes, 
advanced, and turned the enemy's position in front of Johnson's 
division. The fifth division, Brigadier-General Edward Hatch, 
formed on the Hardin pike, its right acting with Croxton, ad- 
vanced simultaneously, and encountered a strong force of the 
enemy's cavalry well intrenched on both sides of Richland creek. 
After a sharp fight the enemy was driven from his works and 
pushed rapidly beyond Hardin's house, near which place part 
of Hatch's command captured the headquarters train of General 
Chalmers." While Croxton's brigade was moving between the 
Hardin and Charlotte pikes. Hatch's division had full command 
of the Hardin pike. At the same time, Chalmers, who was with 
Rucker and his brigade, had also been vigorously assailed on the 
Charlotte turnpike by R. W. Johnson's division, but held his 
ground with great bravery until the enemy, as before stated, had 
swept Ector from the field, pushed the Seventh Alabama rapidly 
back, and was nearly two miles in his rear, having captured his 
ordnance and headquarters trains. He skilfully extricated himself, 
and late in the afternoon effected a junction with the left wing of 
Hood's army, which as yet held the battle-field, with the exception 
of that portion on the extreme left from which he and Ector 
had been driven. 

On the following morning (the i6th) the cavalry under Chal- 
mers was again ferociously attacked by a heavy column under 
Wilson, who was now moving heaven and earth to turn this flank 
and gain the rear of the Confederate infantry. Realizing how 
disastrous this movement, if successful, would prove to the army 
of Hood, he concentrated all his available forces and moved 
rapidly to the Granny White turnpike, there securing a strong 
defensive position. He had made the movement none too soon, 
for shortly after arriving there he received a courier from Hood 
informing him of his defeat, and instructing him to hold the 
Granny White turnpike at all hazards. The message had been re- 

S55 . 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

peated, for one copy was in the hands of Wilson, who says : " It 
was during this stage of the battle that a most important de- 
spatch from Hood to Chalmers was captured and brought to me, 
and forwarded by me at once to Thomas. In substance the de- 
spatch was : ' For God's sake, drive the Yankee cavalry from our 
left and rear, or all is lost.' " 

In obedience to this urgent order from the commanding general, 
Chalmers, Rucker, and Kelley hastened to further strengthen their 
position by obstructing the road with trees and constructing a 
barricade of rails and brush. Here, just at dark on the i6th, the 
Federal cavalry, flushed with the overwhelming success of the 
day, and still reckoning that Forrest had not yet reached Hood's 
rear, bore down upon the Confederates with courage and con- 
fidence. Rucker, who bore the brunt of this fierce onslaught, 
held his men to their work, and there occurred all along the 
Confederate line one of the most desperate and gallant hand-to- 
hand conflicts which have been recorded in the history of any war. 
The weather was intensely cold, and the rain, which had been 
falling, had turned into sleet, which covered the surface of the 
earth with a coating of ice, and made it extremely dif^cult for the 
horses to retain their footing as they reared and plunged in this 
desperate mele6. Moreover, the fingers of many of the troopers 
were so benumbed with cold that it was difficult for them to cock 
their pistols or hold their weapons in hand. As Colonels Rucker 
and Spalding were slashing and thrusting at each other in the 
darkness, other troopers and officers of the two sides were en- 
gaged in like fierce combat, neither side willing to yield. 

A Federal writer says: "On the i6th of December, down the 
Granny White turnpike at dark, Hatch's division pushed onward, 
followed by Hammond and Croxton. After going two or three 
miles the advance squadron came upon part of Chalmers's division 
of Forrest's cavalry formed across the road behind a fence-rail lay- 
out. It was too dark to discern anything except the flash of the 
rebel fire-arms. Colonel George Spalding, commanding the leading 
regiment, ordered it to follow him in a headlong charge. A run- 
ning fight took place, charge and countercharge following in quick 
succession, in which the shouts of the combatants, the clang of 
sabres, and the rattle of pistols and rifles made the night one 
never to be forgotten. During this demoniac scene. Colonel 



RUCKER'S COURAGE AND TACT 

Spalding encountered the Confederate general Rucker, and a 
conflict as between two knights of old took place. They were 
men of great personal strength and skill, and yet it was so dark 
that both were at a disadvantage. Grappling at each other 
blindly, each wrested the sabre from his antagonist's hand and re- 
newed the fight with the other's weapon. They were both well 
mounted and both good horsemen, and the issue was doubtful till 
a stray shot broke Rucker's sword-arm, when he was compelled to 
surrender. Rucker's sword was Spalding's trophy, gallantly won. 
It remained in his possession at Monroe, Michigan, for a quarter 
of a century, when it was returned to its owner, now a successful 
business man at Birmingham, Alabama."* 

It is possible that the desperate fight made here by Chalmers, 
Rucker, and Kelley led General Wilson to believe that there was 
a much larger force in his front than he anticipated, and that For- 
rest had probably reached the scene and was there to confront 
him. Rucker, who was the heroic figure in this unique encounter, 
and who possessed not only the stubborn fighting qualities of his 
superior, but in a certain measure that cunning which served For- 
rest so admirably in many of his desperate situations, had informed 
the Federal general that he was acting immediately with and 
under Forrest, who was in front, and this information may have 
determined the cessation of pursuit on the part of General Wilson. 
General Rucker's courage and tact on this occasion contributed 
so largely to the salvation of the remnant of Hood's army from 
capture before they reached the south side of Duck River that the 
following authentic statement is worthy of record here : 

It was about four o'clock on the afternoon of the i6th of Decem- 
ber that Rucker had been ordered to retire with his command, 
select a strong position on the Granny White pike, and to hold the 
enemy in check at all hazards. He was told that Hood's army was 
completely routed and in wild retreat, and that if Wilson's advance 
was not detained then and there all was lost. He was also in- 
formed that General Forrest was expected every moment from 
Murfreesborough with his cavalry. In order to encourage his 
men as much as possible, Rucker put out the report that Forrest 
was near at hand, and would soon take command of all the troops. 

* Life of General George H. Thomas, by Donn Piatt and Henry V. Boynton. 

557 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

When he reached the position which had been designated, it was 
beginning to grow dark. The ground was covered with snow, 
which had fallen during the afternoon, and at this hour there was 
a drizzling rain, which congealed as it came in contact with the 
snow and made it as slippery as glass. Directing one of his reg- 
iments to construct breastworks of rails and brush and logs across 
and on either side of the pike, Rucker rode a short distance to the 
left to place the Seventh Alabama Cavalry in such position 
that he could enfilade the Federals when they should charge upon 
the breastworks. As Rucker was returning, after having posted 
this regiment, he rode into and among a body of mounted troops 
which he had mistaken for his own men. As it was now very 
dark, the uniforms could not be recognized, but from the orders 
which were being given to the troops he soon became convinced 
that they were Union soldiers. Rucker, who had his sabre already 
in hand, rode up close to an officer who was giving the various 
orders and asked him who he was. The officer replied that he was 
Colonel Spalding, of Wilson's cavalry, upon which Rucker struck 
him a blow over the head and shoulders with his sabre. Colonel 
Spalding quickly returned the compliment, but fortunately for 
Rucker he was so near his adversary that as he brought his sabre 
down at full swing the basket, or guard, of the handle only came in 
contact with the top of the Confederate officer's head. Rucker 
again struck at his adversary, but at this moment his horse reared 
upon his hind feet, the stroke fell short, and in the effort to re- 
cover his seat his sabre fell from his hand. Nothing daunted, he 
spurred his charger so as to bring him again close to Colonel 
Spalding, whose sabre he now seized and wrenched from his hand. 
The Federal troopers now came to the rescue of their leader, and 
Rucker, appreciating the hopelessness of the contest, struck spurs 
to his horse, a large, powerful animal, snow-white in color, and en- 
deavored to escape. Colonel Spalding yelled out to his men, as 
Rucker drew away, to shoot the man on the white horse. This 
was a signal for a volley to be fired at Rucker, one of the shots 
taking effect near the elbow of his left, or bridle, arm. As the bone 
was shattered by the missile, the member, of course, became power- 
less, when the animal, released from the restraint of his rider, leaped 
wildly forward and threw Rucker violently to the ground, where 
he was made a prisoner. He was immediately taken some fifty or 

558 



CHIVALRIC CONDUCT OF FEDERAL GENERALS 

one hundred yards to the rear, where he was interviewed by Gen- 
eral Hatch, to whom he remarked : " Forrest has just arrived with 
all the cavalry, and will give you hell to-night. Mark what I tell 
you." He was closely questioned as to the coming of Forrest, and 
repeated the statement in such a manner that in all probability he 
convinced the Federal commander that Forrest was on the field. 
About this time, Randolph, who was in command of one of Ruck- 
er's regiments, opened a side volley upon the Federals, which 
threw them into confusion, and they retreated several hundred 
yards. It was at this point that Rucker says he was greatly 
gratified to hear some one say, " General Wilson has ordered 
everything in camp." 

It is an agreeable task to write of the chivalric conduct of Generals 
Wilson and Hatch and Colonel Spalding towards this wounded and 
brave Confederate. He says: "During the night General Hatch 
came to me and said that he wanted to make me more comfortable, 
and offered me his bed. I thanked him very much, and he made a 
courteous reply. I was taken to a room in which there were two 
beds. One of these I occupied, and later in the night General Wil- 
son came into the room, and was told that the other bed was for 
him. He did not retire, however, but sat up in that bed, cross- 
legged like a tailor, all night, writing orders and receiving de- 
spatches. I do not think that either General Wilson or I slept a 
wink. I certainly didn't. General Hatch laid down on the floor 
by my side, and (God bless him) got up frequently during the night 
and gave me water, and the next morning, when we left for Nash- 
ville, he provided me with a small flask of good whiskey."* 

In later years General Hood expressed his full appreciation of 
Rucker's clever strategy on that night, and told him that it did 
much to save his army from complete destruction. 

From an article on the " Cavalry Corps in the Nashville Cam- 
paign," which forms a chapter in the Life of General George H. 
Thoinas,\ the following is quoted : " The victory was as complete 
as it could be made in a short December day. The pursuit was 
begun at once, but it must not be forgotten that the entire cavalry 

* Based on manuscript of Colonel E. W. Rucker, in possession of the 
author, 

+ It is stated in this volume that General Wilson had rendered full as- 
sistance " in connection with this portion of the work." 

559 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

force on the field had been dismounted and engaged in the attack 
against the rear of Hood's intrenchments. There was absolutely 
no reserve, and the horses of the entire force were from a half to 
three-quarters of a mile in the rear, and, with all the officers could 
do, aided by the cheerful alacrity of the men, over half an hour was 
consumed in getting to the horses and mounting for the pursuit. 
There was no warning of the rebel intention to break, except that 
contained in Hood's despairing cry to Chalmers; they fought on 
doggedly and steadily, every man in his place, till the infantry ad- 
vance began, and then, seeing that further resistance would be in 
vain, they broke all at once and hastened to the rear as rapidly as 
possible. The break occurred at about four o'clock. The pursuit 
by the first mounted troops began at about half past four. The 
clouds hung low and were dense and black. It had already be- 
gun to rain, and this hastened the on-coming of night. By five 
o'clock it was dark, and by six a cavalryman could scarcely see his 
horse's ears, but there was no hesitation or delay. Following the 
Granny White turnpike, the gallant horsemen pushed onward into 
the darkness, picking up prisoners and ruthlessly charging every 
semblance of a rear-guard. Hammond and Croxton followed close 
upon their heels, and no one in the entire cavalry force thought 
of halting or going into camp, although the day had been a hard 
and toilsome one, with but little cessation from marching and 
fighting. The pursuit had not been carried on for more than two 
or three miles before the advanced squadrons found a part of Chal- 
mers's division of Forrest's cavalry formed across the road behind 
a fence-rail lay-out." 

It was here that the signal resistance of Chalmers and Rucker 
took place, practically ending the Federal pursuit for that day. 

Referring to this fight. General Wilson says : " The gallant 
Confederates were driven in turn from every fresh position taken 
up by them, and the running fight was kept up until near mid- 
night. Chalmers, however, had done the work cut out for him 
gallantly and well. He was overborne and driven back, it is 
true, but the delay which he forced upon the Federal cavalry by 
the stand he had made was sufficient to enable the fleeing Con- 
federate infantry to sweep by the danger-point that night, to im- 
provise a rear-guard, and to make good their retreat the next day." 

In the desperate straits in which he found himself towards the 

560 



UNITES WITH HOOD AT DUCK RIVER 

close of that disastrous day of December, 1864, General Hood 
turned to his famous lieutenant for help, and Forrest never 
showed himself a greater soldier or a more successful fighter than 
in this trying emergency. When, on the afternoon of the 15th ot 
December, he had received by courier a message stating that the 
battle in front of Nashville had been begun, his sound military 
judgment told him that the contest between the greatly superior 
army of Thomas and the troops under General Hood would end 
in the overthrow of the latter. He knew full well that the battle 
of Franklin had broken the spirit of this army. Up to that date, 
inspired with fresh hope of success by the invasion of Tennessee, 
pushing the enemy in front of them as they did from the Ten- 
nessee River to Franklin, they had rushed upon the foe here in 
the full confidence of victory; and when the survivors of this gal- 
lant army saw that their commanders and their comrades had 
been slaughtered in such fearful numbers, and that, after all, the 
enemy had escaped and had taken post behind their breastworks 
in Nashville, and were now stronger than ever, they had lost heart 
and hope, and were practically beaten before a gun was fired in 
the battle of the 15th and i6th of December. 

With this in mind, as soon as he heard that the battle was in 
progress, although the Confederates were still holding their po- 
sition, Forrest hastened Buford's division in the direction of Nash- 
ville and Franklin, where it would be ready to unite with Chal- 
mers and offer what resistance it could in the protection of the 
army when it should retreat. It will be seen that this division 
arrived just in the nick of time to unite with Chalmers at Franklin 
on the early morning of the 17th of December. 

He had already started southward in the direction of the Ten- 
nessee River, his prisoners (some four hundred in number), the 
wagon-trains, the sick and wounded, and several hundred infan- 
try who were unfit for active duty by reason of being barefooted, 
and with these a considerable drove of beef - cattle and hogs 
which had been gathered up for the use of the army. Thus en- 
cumbered, his march along the almost impassable road was un- 
avoidably slow, and had he not started in advance he would not 
have been able in safety to reach Duck River and unite with Gen- 
eral Hood there as he did on the i8th of December. 

When the courier arrived with the information that Hood's 
2N 561 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

lines were broken, from Triune he hastened Armstrong's brigade 
westward in the direction of Spring Hill, and threw the remainder 
of Jackson's division on that route to unite with the rear-guard 
then, under Chalmers and Lee, struggling against the onslaughts 
of Wilson's corps. The single brigade of Ross accompanied his 
train across Duck River, near Columbia, on the i8th, and early 
on this morning Forrest, in person, reported to General Hood, and 
was immediately assigned to the command of the rear-guard of the 
Army of Tennessee. 

General Grant, in front of Petersburg, had now no longer any 
anxiety in regard to General Hood, but as to the commander of 
the Southern cavalry his mind was not so much at ease. He 
wired Thomas : " The armies operating against Richmond have 
fired two hundred guns in honor of your great victory. In all 
youi operations we hear nothing of Forrest. Great precautions 
should be taken to prevent him crossing the Cumberland or Ten- 
nessee below Eastport." 

General Thomas had heard on the 17th that Forrest had been 
killed, but awaited the confirmation of this news, which was al- 
most too good to be true, before answering the despatch of his 
chief. On December 17th Schofield had informed him that 
" citizens on the road in rear of where we fought yesterday re- 
port that the universal testimony of rebels, officers and men, is 
that Forrest was certainly killed at Murfreesborough, where they 
admit their cavalry was badly whipped." 

General Wilson had been urged to inform his commander as to 
what had become of the redoubtable Confederate cavalryman, and 
on the 17th he telegraphed as follows: "Cannot hear definitely, 
though it is reported he withdrew from Murfreesborough yester- 
day." On the 1 8th the official records contain the following: 
" General Rousseau reports Forrest killed, and fifteen hundred of 
his men captured at Murfreesborough."* While the wires were 
burdened with these messages, Forrest, by night and day, was 
marching to throw himself between the beaten infantry and their 
victorious pursuers. 

At daylight on the morning of the 17th the troops of both, 
armies were astir. The Federal cavalry, however, had had the 

* Official Records, vol. xlv. part ii. p. 252. 
562 



.1 



CHECKS THE FEDERAL PURSUIT 

longer rest, since they encamped for the night about eleven 
o'clock, and did not mount their horses until between four and 
five on the following morning. The Confederate horsemen, 
under Chalmers, had had little respite from the desperate work 
in which all day of the i6th they had been engaged. When the 
Union troopers desisted from further pursuit the Confederate 
general had left a thin line of skirmishers to offer what re- 
sistance they were able, should any advance be made, and these 
had built fires in order to impress the Federals with the idea 
that the entire cavalry had gone into camp in their front. With 
the remainder of his command, which had by this time become 
considerably scattered and not a little disorganized, Chalmers has- 
tened, despite the darkness of the night, towards Franklin, where 
he arrived early in the morning, and, in the absence of Forrest, was 
placed in command of all the cavalry at that point, to act with 
General Stephen D. Lee in protecting the rear of the army. It 
was at this opportune moment that General Buford arrived with 
his division and reported to Chalmers. 

General Stephen D. Lee, who had handled his corps with such 
marked ability and success in the two days' battle in front of 
Nashville, still held his immediate command together in excellent 
fighting shape, and selecting two brigades — Pettus's Alabama and 
Stovall's Georgia troops — he, with the cavalry of Chalmers and 
Buford, organized these into a temporary rear-guard and awaited 
the onslaught of the Union cavalry. 

Major-General Wilson was early in the saddle, and pressed for- 
ward vigorously with the brigades of Hammond, Croxton, and 
Knipe. Near Brentwood his advance struck the outposts of the 
Confederate cavalry, and drove these without great difficulty as far 
as Hollow-Tree Gap, some four miles north of Franklin. Pursuing 
with a boldness amounting to rashness, the Union troopers here 
ran into a stronger detachment of Forrest's cavalry and the 
two brigades of infantry under Stephen D. Lee, and suffered a 
temporary check. General Lee reports : " Their boldness was 
soon checked by many of them being killed and captured by Pet- 
tus's Alabama and Stovall's Georgia brigades and Bledsoe's battery 
under General Clayton. I was soon compelled to withdraw rapidly 
towards Franklin, as the enemy was throwing a force in my rear 
from both the right and left of the pike. This force was checked 

563 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

by Brigadier-General Gibson with his brigade and a regiment of 
Buford's cavalry under Colonel Shacklett. The resistance which 
the enemy had met with early in the morning, and which mate- 
rially checked his movement, enabled us to reach Franklin with 
but little difficulty. About 4 P.M. the enemy, having crossed a 
considerable force over the Harpeth, commenced a bold and 
vigorous attack, charging with his cavalry and pushing forward 
his lines in our front. A more persistent effort was never made 
to rout the rear-guard of a retiring column. This desperate at- 
tack was kept up till long after dark, but gallantly did the rear- 
guard, consisting of Pettus's Alabama and Cummings's Georgia 
brigades — the latter commanded by Colonel Watkins, of Steven- 
son's division — repulse every attack. Brigadier-General Chalmers 
with his division of cavalry covered our flanks. The cavalry of 
the enemy succeeded in getting in Stevenson's rear and attacked 
Major-General Clayton's division about dark, but were handsomely 
repulsed, Gibson's and Stovall's brigades being principally engaged. 
Some four or five guidons were captured from the enemy during 
the evening." * 

Of this incident General Wilson says : " The rebels, finding 
Johnson on their flank, fell back to a strong position on the Co- 
lumbia pike two miles south of Franklin." 

During the desperate fighting of the rear-guard under General 
Lee on the 17th of December, this gallant officer covered himself 
with glory, not only in the reckless exposure to every danger 
which the fighting at close quarters made necessary, but in the 
ability with which he handled the brave troops under his imme- 
diate command. Towards the close of the day he was seriously 
wounded, but declined to relinquish his command until the safety 
of the troops was assured, when near nightfall he was succeeded by 
Major-General C. L. Stevenson. Chalmers and Buford, realizing 
the critical situation of the army, fought with bull-dog tenacity and 
great courage. So bold was the pursuit on the part of the Fed- 
eral cavalry that for mile after mile in the running fight of the 
day officers and men alike of the contending forces were mingled 
in hand-to-hand assault. They slashed or thrust at each other 
with their sabres, or drew their six-shooters for deadlier purpose. 

* Official Records, vol. xlv. part i. p. 689. 
564 



IN RETREAT FROM NASHVILLE 

The hands or fingers of many of these men were so benumbed with 
cold that they were compelled to use both hands to cock their 
pistols. The two cavalry generals moved in the thickest of the 
fray with their devoted followers, and emptied all the chambers 
of their " navies " in hand-to-hand combat more than once dur- 
ing the arduous work of this bloody day. Language is inade- 
quate to depict the suffering of the soldiers of both armies. It was 
now mid-winter, and for several days during and after the battle 
it sleeted and rained and froze alternately ; the roads were deep 
in mud, and covered with thin ice, which broke under foot and 
added to the difficulty of marching ; the weather was intensely 
cold, the troops were wet and hungry, and the horses and men 
were jaded and worn out. With unsurpassed heroism these brave 
soldiers of both armies stood uncomplainingly to their desperate 
work. Their leaders were men of indomitable will. There was 
not to be a Fort Donelson surrender because the weather was cold 
or the enemy in superior force. 

Wilson says: " Late in the evening of the 17th, apparently ex- 
hausted with rapid marching, the enemy took up a strong position 
in the open fields about a mile north of the West Harpeth River. 
It was then so dark from fog and the approaching night that 
Hatch's men had become somewhat intermingled with the sullen 
and taciturn Confederate stragglers, and began to doubt that the 
ranks which were now looming up in front were really those of 
the enemy's rear-guard. The momentary hesitation caused by 
this doubt gave Forrest an opportunity to strengthen his line 
and to post his single remaining battery in position so as to sweep 
the turnpike. Hatch on the left and Knipe on the right were at 
once ordered to charge the enemy's flank. The Confederate bat- 
tery opened with canister at short range, but hardly had Forrest 
emptied his guns before the storm broke upon him as well as upon 
the entire rebel line. This fight was most desperate, and extended 
well into the night. Every musket -flash and every defiant shout 
was a guide to the gallant and unrelenting pursuers. It was a 
desperate hand-to-hand fight, mounted men against footmen, sabre 
and pistol against stout hearts and clubbed muskets, with the pall 
of darkness still over all , the enemy was again scattered, the guns 
captured, spreading confusion and terror throughout the retreating 
mass of now completely disorganized Confederates." 

S6S 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

Early on the i8th of December the Confederates continued 
their retreat towards Columbia, but beyond one or two slight 
skirmishes between the advance of Wilson's corps and the ex- 
treme rear-guard of the Confederate cavalry, in which the casual- 
ties were insignificant, no fighting occurred. The relaxed vigor 
in the pursuing enemy was a godsend to the beaten Confederates. 
Rutherford Creek, which was now level with the top of the banks 
from the heavy rainfall, was the first formidable obstacle in the 
path of the retreating army. While the cavalry of Forrest was 
holding Wilson's men at bay, Cheatham, arriving near this stream, 
halted his corps a few miles south of Spring Hill and threw up 
intrenchments in order to protect the passage of the wagon-train. 
This safely over, he crossed to the southern bank, and was imme- 
diately followed by the entire cavalry, who succeeded in destroy- 
ing the bridge over which they crossed before it was captured. 

It was not until the 19th that the head of General Wilson's col- 
umn reached the northern bank of Rutherford Creek. In his re- 
port, reciting the diflficulties which confronted him in the pursuit of 
Forrest, he says : " At early dawn on the 19th, the cavalry corps, 
although entirely out of rations, resumed the pursuit. Hatch and 
Knipe pressing close upon the enemy's rear -guard, which had 
again been formed and was now commanded by Forrest in per- 
son, while Croxton and Johnson endeavored to reach around it 
and strike the retreating Confederates at Spring Hill. The haver- 
sacks and forage-bags were emptied, and there was no alternative 
but to wait for the supply-trains which had been ordered forward, 
and which arrived late in the night." 

These difficulties, not only for the pursuers but for the pursued, 
were not lessened by a terrific winter rain-storm which set in late 
on the afternoon of the 19th. 

It had been the intention of General Hood, in case of failure at 
Nashville, to fall back no farther than the line of Duck River, and 
there maintain himself throughout the winter. So overwhelming, 
however, was the defeat, and so greatly disorganized was his army, 
that when he arrived at Columbia he says : " I became convinced 
that the condition of the army made it necessary to recross the 
Tennessee without delay." What General Hood implied by the 
"condition of the army" may be judged from the losses he had 
sustained, as given in the official reports of General George H. 

566 



ORGANIZES THE FAMOUS REAR-GUARD 

Thomas: " We captured 13,189 prisoners, including seven general 
officers and nearly one thousand other officers of all grades, and 
seventy-two pieces of serviceable artillery. During the sanne pe- 
riod over two thousand deserters were received, to whom the oath 
was administered."* 

Forrest fully concurred in the conclusion of the commanding 
officer to reach the Tennessee River with the greatest expedition, 
giving as his opinion that if this was not done the entire army 
would be captured. He proposed to General Hood to undertake 
the protection of his rear, and to hold the enemy in check long 
enough for the escape of the army across the Tennessee, if in ad- 
dition to his cavalry, which now numbered three thousand effec- 
tives, he would place under his command four thousand service- 
able infantry, and requested that Major-General E. C. Walthall 
be placed at the head of the infantry to act under his orders dur- 
ing the retreat. These suggestions of Forrest were accepted, and 
he set to work in the organization of that forlorn hope of desper- 
ately brave men, who, with a heroism and unselfish devotion unsur- 
passed in history, battled day after day against the coalition of 
the elements and the victorious enemy to overwhelm them. 

This ever-famous rear-guard, in addition to Forrest's cavalry, was 
composed of fragments of the following commands : the brigades 
of General W. S. Featherston ; Colonel J. B. Palmer; Colonel C. 
W. Heiskell (who had succeeded General Strahl, who was killed at 
Franklin) ; Colonel C. H. Olmstead (who had succeeded General 
Smith) ; Colonel H. R. Field (who had succeeded General Maney) ; 
General D. H. Reynolds ; General D. Coleman (who had succeed- 
ed Ector); General George D. Johnston (who had succeeded 
General Quarles). These remnants were consolidated by placing 
Palmer's and Smith's brigades under Colonel Palmer; Field's and 
Heiskell's under Colonel Field ; Reynolds's and Coleman's under 
General Reynolds; Featherston's and Johnston's under General 
Featherston. 

In General Thomas's report, he says: " Forrest and his cavalry, 
and such other detachments as had been sent off from his main 
army, joined Hood at Columbia. He had formed a powerful 
rear- guard, numbering about four thousand infantry and all his 

* Q^ial Records, vol. xlv. 'part i. p. 46. 
567 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

available cavalry. With the exception of this rear-guard, his army 
had become a disheartened and disorganized rabble of half-armed 
and barefooted men, who sought every opportunity to fall out by 
the wayside and desert their cause, to put an end to their suffer- 
ings. The rear-guard, however, was undaunted and firm, and did 
its work bravely to the last^* 

Of the infantry which volunteered its services to cover the Con- 
federate retreat fully three hundred were without shoes, and their 
feet were so badly cut by the ice and the rough marching that 
they could scarcely hobble along on foot. The brave fellows, 
however, had not lost heart, and were ready to fight to the death 
if needed. They wrapped pieces of blankets around their raw 
and swollen feet, tied them on with thongs, and still trudged on, 
staining the snow and slush as they went, until Forrest ordered 
some of the wagons to be emptied of their contents in order to 
give transportation to these unconquerable men. When it became 
necessary to fight off the Union advance-guard they left the 
wagons, took their place in line, and did effective service. When 
the uncomplaining sacrifices which these heroic spirits made is 
fully known, the historian and the poet will transmit to pos- 
terity in lasting form the thrilling story of the immortal rear- 
guard of Hood's army under Forrest and Walthall. 

The successful passage of Rutherford Creek gave the Confeder- 
ates forty-eight hours of valuable time, and enabled Forrest to 
effect the passage of Duck River and to destroy all the bridges 
which might be available to the enemy before Wilson could reach 
its banks. 

It is clear that the plans of Thomas and Wilson fell short of 
perfection at this important juncture. Having calculated upon 
the defeat of Hood in front of Nashville, these generals had wisely 
delayed their attack until they had completed the organization of 
this magnificent cavalry corps, so that they might fall upon him 
in retreat, convert his rout into panic, and destroy him before he 
could reach the Tennessee River. They had also constructed as 
a part of this pursuit a train of pontoons, and were abundantly 
supplied with wagons, supplies, and light artillery'. Notwithstand- 
ing this, they were so slow in moving to the front that the train 

* Italics not in the original. 
568 



ESCAPES BY CROSSING DUCK RIVER 

with rations did not arrive at Rutherford Creek until the 20th of 
December, more than three days after the close of the battle in 
front of Nashville, and it was not until the 21st that the Federal 
cavalry succeeded in crossing so small a stream as Rutherford 
Creek. This delay gave Forrest the opportunity of which he 
took immediate advantage, and saved the remnant of Hood's 
beaten forces. 

No sooner had Forrest been placed in charge of affairs at Co- 
lumbia, on the 1 8th, than he began to impress oxen and to have 
the wagons and the artillery double-teamed in order to pull one- 
half of the train and guns more rapidly over the quagmire roads 
leading towards the Tennessee. By this method he knew he could 
surely save at least one-half his train. 

An official Union despatch of this period says : " They report 
that the Confederate artillery horses have all given out, and the 
guns are being hauled by oxen. Forrest's cavalry is in fair condi- 
tion, but it does not amount to more than fifteen hundred mount- 
ed, while their dismounted troops are thirty-five hundred." 

Forrest had made a clean sweep of the Duck River bridges. For 
many miles above and below Columbia not even a piece of string 
timber remained. To the Federal horsemen, strong enough to 
have run over and swallowed up the Confederate mounted troops 
facing them, were left the alternative of swimming this stream, a 
madly sweeping torrent at this season, or of awaiting the arrival 
of their pontoons. Wilson was too wise a commander and 
knew his antagonist too well to attempt to swim, with Forrest's 
riflemen behind logs and trees on the other side. Chafing at the 
enforced delay, he sent messenger after messenger to have the 
bridge-train hurried on. To his chagrin he learned that the pon- 
toons had taken the wrong road. He says : " Duck River proved 
impassable for the national cavalry until the single pontoon-train 
of the army could be brought forward, and this, owing to the con- 
dition of the roads and a mistake which had started it in the 
wrong direction, involved a further delay of twenty-four hours." 
These various delays gave Forrest time to return with the teams 
from the first trip to the Tennessee and save the remaining half of 
the wagons and artillery. 

It was not until the morning of December 24th that the Union 
general crossed to the south side of Duck River with his corps and 

569 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

resumed the pursuit. Forrest, meanwhile, had fallen back and taken 
up a strong position at Richland Creek, south of Columbia, and 
was prepared to meet him. Six pieces of artillery were placed in 
well-selected position on the main pike, and these were supported 
by Buford's and Chalmers's divisions and Ross's brigade of Jack- 
son's division. General Wilson, after a careful reconnaissance, was 
so well convinced of the inadvisability of attempting to cross this 
creek at the place where Forrest had posted his guns and troops 
that he took immediate steps to throw his men across above and be-, 
low the Confederate position. He says : " On the morning of the 
24th the pursuit was resumed. Hood's reorganized rear -guard, 
under the redoubtable Forrest, was soon encountered by the cav- 
alry advance-guard, and he was a leader not to be attacked by a 
handful of men however bold. The few remaining teams and the 
rabble of the army had been hurried on towards the Tennessee, 
marching to Pulaski by turnpike and thence to Bainbridge by the 
dirt roads of the country. The rear-guard had thus a clear road, 
and when hard pressed could fall back rapidly. The open country 
to the right and left of the turnpike was much broken, heavily 
wooded, and almost impassable, while the turnpike itself, thread- 
ing the valleys, depressions, and gorges, offered many advanta- 
geous positions for defence ; hence, with a few men, the pursuing 
force could be made to develop a front almost anywhere, and its 
progress was at times comparatively slow." 

General Wilson finally succeeded in crossing Richland Creek well 
upon the flanks of the Confederate position, as a result of which 
Forrest was forced back in the direction of Pulaski. In the fight- 
ing here, which was at times a hand-to-hand affair, Brigadier-Gen- 
eral Buford was badly wounded, and was compelled to relinquish 
command of his division, which was for the time being consolidated 
with that of Chalmers. 

On Christmas morning, after destroying the ammunition and 
stores which could not be moved, Forrest, leaving a light rear- 
guard under Jackson, moved rapidly seven miles south of Pulaski, 
and near King's or Anthony's Hill again awaited the advance of 
the enemy. The approach to this hill was through a narrow 
valley, shut in on either side by ridges of considerable height. 
Morton's artillery was placed on the crest of the ridge and 
masked in position to sweep the valley along which the enemy 

570 



CHECKING THE FEDERAL ADVANCE 

must approach. Armstrong's and Ross's brigades were dis- 
mounted and thrown into line with Featherston's and Palmer's 
infantry in easy support, and to one side of the artillery. 
From the opposite side of this crescentic formation Jackson's 
division, mounted, were lined up with Reynolds's and Field's in- 
fantry. Breastworks of logs and stone and brush were hastily 
constructed and a line of skirmishers thrown well out in front. 
In order to prevent any possibility of a flank movement on the 
part of Wilson to gain the Confederate rear, Chalmers had been 
placed upon the right flank in observation. A half-mile in front 
of this position, towards Pulaski, a small force of Confederates, 
mounted, were left at the mouth of the gorge, with directions to 
fire and to retreat rapidly in order to entice the Union horsemen 
into the ambush. As soon as the Federals came in sight they 
charged the rear-guard ; but, advancing into the narrow path be- 
tween the hills, their cautious commander felt assured that Forrest 
would not fail to take advantage of this strong natural position. Sus- 
pecting the trap which had been laid for him, he called off a pursuit 
on horseback and ordered one of his regiments to dismount, and 
these he carefully pushed forward with a single piece of artillery. 
The Confederates remained concealed until the enemy were within 
close range, when, upon a given signal, Morton opened with his bat- 
tery, which was double-shotted with canister, and at the same time 
the Confederates in ambush on either side delivered a volley of 
musketry. The Federa4s broke in great disorder, and the Con- 
federates, leaving their breastworks, charged upon them, General 
W. H. Jackson's mounted detachment leading and capturing a 
number of prisoners, one piece of artillery, and several hundred 
horses of the dismounted troopers. General Wilson, at this junct- 
ure, sent the following message to General Wood, commander of 
Fourth Army Corps : " We are four miles from Pulaski, on the 
Lamb's Ferry road, and have met a slight check. If you bring 
up your infantry we may get some prisoners, and I think I shall 
be able to drive Forrest off. Your infantry can materially assist 
me."* And further: "Just before sundown on Christmas eve, 
Forrest, in a fit of desperation, made a stand on a heavily wooded 
ridge at the head of a ravine, and by a rapid and savage counter- 

* Official Records, vol. xlv. part ii. p. 348, 
571 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

thrust drove back Harrison's brigade, captured one gun, which he 
succeeded in carrying away as the sole trophy of that desperate 
campaign." * 

Notwithstanding General Wilson's statement that this was the 
last flicker of aggressive temper shown by any of Hood's beaten 
and demoralized army, on the following day, the 26th, a very de- 
cided stand was made by the rear-guard under Forrest, about 
which there was no suggestion of demoralization or defeat. The 
Union general, advancing, drove in easily the pickets of Ross's 
brigade, but struck something heavier at a small stream called 
Sugar Creek. Here Forrest had encamped for the night, and had 
again strengthened his position by a lay-out of rails and logs. 
In the early morning a dense fog prevailed, and this effectually 
concealed not only his troops but the breastworks. As the Fed- 
erals came on they could not know of the presence of the Confed- 
erates until they were within very close musket-range. Then a 
volley Wcis opened upon them, and again they were thrown into 
confusion and retreated in disorder. Two mounted regiments of 
Ross's brigade and two of the infantry regiments were ordered 
to charge at this opportune moment, which was done, throwing 
the enemy into a complete rout. The Confederates followed for 
nearly two miles. Coming upon them in stronger force, Forrest 
then withdrew his troops back to Sugar Creek, and remained in 
line of battle for two hours. As the enemy did not put in an 
appearance, he then retreated towards the Tennessee River. For- 
rest says in his report : " The enemy made no further attack be- 
tween Sugar Creek and Tennessee River, which stream I crossed 
on the evening of the 27th of December." 

General Wilson says : " From that time till the Tennessee 
River was reached Forrest made a frequent show of resistance, 
each of which ended with nothing more serious than an insignifi- 
cant skirmish. The weather had become worse and worse ; it was 
cold and freezing during the nights, and followed by days of rain, 
snow, and thaw. The country, which was poor and thinly settled 
at best, had been absolutely stripped of forage and provisions by 
the march of contending armies. The men of both forces suffered 
dreadfully, but the poor cavalry horses fared still worse than their 

* Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, vol. iv. p. 471. 
572 



RESOURCEFULNESS DEVELOPED BY DEFEAT 

riders. Scarcely a withered corn-blade could be found for them, 
and thousands, exhausted by overwork, famished with hunger, or 
crippled so that death was a mercy, with hoofs dropping off from 
frost and mud, fell by the roadside never to rise again. By the 
time the corps found rest on the Tennessee River, it could muster 
scarcely seven thousand horses fit for service. The failure of the 
light -draft gunboats on the Tennessee to reach and destroy the 
pontoon-bridge which Hood had kept in position insured his safe 
retreat. The cavalry advance-guard, under the active and enter- 
prising Spalding, reached the north bank of the river just as the 
bridge had been swung to the south side and the last of the rebels 
were disappearing in the distance."* 

It is said of Forrest through this trying ordeal, by Captain 
Walter A. Goodman, of Chalmers's staff: "At no time in his 
whole career was the fortitude of General Forrest in adversity, 
and his power of infusing his own cheerfulness into those under 
his command, more strikingly exhibited than at this crisis."t 

Colonel D. C. Kelley says : " The part which he took in the 
Hood retreat from Nashville, in directing almost every move- 
ment of the army, suggesting the roads that should be taken, the 
manner in which the artillery and baggage - trains were to be 
moved, sending messengers every few hours to General Hood, 
giving the minutest practical details, showed him fully capable of 
handling an army of any size. All this while he was actively en- 
gaged in covering the retreat, inflicting upon the enemy blow 
after blow, until his latest capture of men and artillery induced 
them to cease their pursuit. When he had reached luka, Missis- 
sippi, I heard General Hood heartily thank Forrest for the sug- 
gestions he had sent him in reference to the movements of the 
army, saying to him that without his aid he should never have 
brought his army across the Tennessee River." 

Diplomatist as well as soldier, Forrest knew that his troops 
could not fail to be influenced by the gloom and despondency 
that had settled down upon the remnant of Hood's infantry 
which had survived this campaign of disasters. He was, moreover, 
a born orator, possessed a wonderful command of language, and 

* Battles and Leaders of the Civil War. 
t Campaigns of Lieutenant-General N. B. Forrest. 
573 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

was eloquent and impressive in delivery. On reaching the south 
side of the Tennessee, he addressed his men as follows : 

"Soldiers, — The old campaign is ended, and your commanding general 
deems this an appropriate occasion to speak of the steadiness, self-denial, 
and patriotism with which you have borne the hardships of the past year. 
The marches and labors you have performed during that period will find no 
parallel in the history of this war. 

" On the 24th day of December, 1863, there were three thousand of you, 
unorganized and undisciplined, at Jackson, Tennessee, only four hundred of 
whom were armed. You were surrounded by fifteen thousand of the enemy, 
who were congratulating themselves on your certain capture. You started 
out with your artillery, wagon-trains, and a large number of cattle, which you 
succeeded in bringing through, since which time you have fought and won 
the following battles — battles which will enshrine your names in the hearts 
of your countrymen and live in history an imperishable monument to your 
prowess: Jack's Creek, Estenaula, Somerville, Okolona, Union City, Padu- 
cah. Fort Pillow, Bolivar, Tishomingo Creek, Harrisburg, Hurricane Creek, 
Memphis, Athens, Sulphur Springs, Pulaski, Carter's Creek, Columbia, and 
Johnsonville — fields upon which you have won fadeless immortality. In 
the recent campaign in middle Tennessee you sustained the reputation so 
nobly won. For twenty-six days, from the time you left Florence, on the 
2ist of November, to the 26th of December, you were constantly engaged 
with the enemy, and endured the hunger, cold, and labor incident to that 
arduous campaign without murmur. To sum up, in brief, your triumphs 
during the past year, you have fought fifty battles, killed and captured six- 
teen thousand of the enemy, captured two thousand horses and mules, sixty- 
seven pieces of artillery, four gunboats, fourteen transports, twenty barges, 
three hundred wagons, fifty ambulances, ten thousand stands of small arms, 
forty block-houses, destroyed thirty-six railroad bridges, two hundred miles 
of railroad, six engines, one hundred cars, and $15,000,000 worth of property. 

" In the accomplishment of this great work you were occasionally sus- 
tained by other troops, who joined you in the fight, but your regular number 
never exceeded five thousand, two thousand of whom have been killed or 
wounded, while in prisoners you have lost about two hundred. 

" If your course has been marked by the graves of patriotic heroes who 
have fallen by your side, it has, at the same time, been more plainly marked 
by the blood of the invader. While you sympathize with the friends of the 
fallen, your sorrows should be appeased by the knowledge that they fell as 
brave men battling for all that makes life worth living for. 

"Soldiers, you now rest for a short time from your labors. During the 
respite prepare for future action. Your commanding general is ready to lead 
you again to the defence of the common cause, and he appeals to you, by a 
remembrance of the glories of your past career, your desolated homes, and, 
above all, by the memory of your dead comrades, to yield a ready obedience 

574 



ADDRESS TO HIS SOLDIERS 

to discipline, and to buckle on your armor anew for the fight. Bring with 
you the soldiers safest armor-a determination to fight white the enemy pol- 
lutes your soil ; to fight as long as he denies your rights ; to fight until inde- 
pendence shall have been achieved ; to fight for home, children, liberty and 
all you hold dear. Show to the worid the superhuman and sublime spirit 
with which a people may he inspired when fighting for the inestimable boon 
of liberty. Be not allured by the siren song of peace, for there can be no 
peace save upon your separate, independent nationality. Be patient, obe- 
dient, and earnest, and the day is not far distant when you can return to 
your homes and live in the full fruition of freeman around the family altar." 



CHAPTER XXI 

CLOSING CAMPAIGN OF 1 865. JANUARY 1ST TO MAY 9TH 

The Opposing Cavalry Forces at Rest — General James H. Wilson's Energetic Prepa- 
rations for the Spring Campaign — The War Should Have Ended with the Battle 
of Nashville — Forrest's Forecast of the Fate of the Confederacy — He Repairs to 
Mississippi with the Remnant of His Command — Troops Furloughed — Roddey Sur- 
prised in Northern Alabama, and Hood's Pontoon- Train Captured — Forrest Made 
Lieutenant-General and Placed in Command of All the Cavalry in the Department 
of Alabama, Mississippi, and East Louisiana — He Stirs Up the Authorities at Rich- 
mond in Regard to the Army of Men Commissioned to Raise Companies and 
Regiments — Suggests that They be Put in the Ranks and Made to Fight — Series 
of Letters to Richmond — Seventy-Five Thousand Union Soldiers Ready to Invade 
Forrest's Department in the Spring of 1865 — General Wilson Moves from Waterloo 
towards Selma with Fourteen Thousand Effective Troops — The Most Magnifi- 
cently Equipped Body of Cavalry on the American Continent — Forrest Marches 
towards Selma to Meet Him — Is Forced to Divide His Command to Meet Other 
Invasions — He Has Two Men Court-Martialled and Shot for Desertion at Sipsey 
Bridge — Wilson Reaches Elyton, Alabama — Detaches Croxton's Brigade on March 
30th, which does not Rejoin Him until May 20th — Croxton Misses a Great Op- 
portunity to Destroy Jackson's Wagon-Train and Artillery — He Shows Great Cour- 
age and Skill in the Capture of Tuscaloosa — Wilson's Capture of a Courier with 
Forrest's Despatches, Giving Him Full Information of the Disposition of Forrest's 
Forces and Enabling Him to Defeat the "Hitherto Invincible" Confederate — 
Skirmish at Montevallo — Forrest, with Two Hundred and Seventy -Five Men, 
Reaches the Road along which the Rear-Guard of Wilson's Column is Passing — 
Charges and Puts It to Flight — During the Night He Makes a Detour of the Union 
Army and Reaches His Troops in Front of Wilson — Desperate Engagement at Bog- 
ler's Creek — Forrest Assailed by Captain Taylor, who is Killed — One of the Most 
Sanguinary Hand-to-Hand Conflicts Known in the Civil War — Chalmers Fails to 
Reach Forrest in Time — Armstrong Takes the Bull by the Horns, and on His Own 
Responsibility Marches to the Sound of the Cannonade and Reaches Forrest in 
Time to Save Him from Destruction — Battle at Selma — Armstrong the Hero of the 
Day — Defeat of the Confederates and Capture of Selma — Forrest and Armstrong 
Cut Their Way Out — General Wilson's Strenuous Efforts to Prevent Pillaging — 
Surprise of a Detachment of the Fourth Regulars — Surrender at Gainesville — For- 
rest's Farewell Address. 

THE opposing cavalry forces of the Federal and Confederate 
armies, under Wilson and Forrest, were at last separated 
from each other, and were mutually content to have the 
broad Tennessee River between them. Forrest's command, if 

576 



EXHAUSTION OF OPPOSING CAVALRY FORCES 

anything, was even more jaded and worn out than Wilson's. 
It had passed through the severe and trying experiences of the 
Johnsonville expedition, and without a day of rest had been hur- 
ried forward to join Hood at Florence. Then, from the 19th of 
November to the 27th of December, in a season of great inclem- 
ency, it had marched and fought every day, and at times for several 
nights in succession. Many of the horses had died on the march 
and in battle, and a goodly number of those which survived were in 
such a deplorable condition that they had to be abandoned, with- 
out any hope of procuring new animals in their place. The ad- 
vantages of the situation were greatly in Wilson's favor. For sev- 
eral weeks before Hood crossed the Tennessee he had had possession 
of all the country between this river and the Cumberland at Nash- 
ville, and while the rigorous general impressment of animals was 
not begun until Hood was in front of Nashville, it goes without 
saying that Wilson's veteran troopers did not leave any serviceable 
animals in that region, but appropriated them for the large cavalry 
command which he had skilfully organized. He did not leave 
a horse or a mule in all this land. All the street-car, omnibus, 
and private horses and mules in Nashville, which were fit for ser- 
vice, had been taken. So exacting was the impressment of this 
officer that Andrew Johnson, Vice-President of the United States, 
had to give up his carriage-team. Not a circus within this terri- 
tory but what had been compelled to disband for the reason that 
General Wilson had appropriated its live-stock. Sherman had for 
years been praying for a cavalry commander who could, as he 
termed it, " beat Forrest stealing horses." His prayer had at last 
been answered. 

A fair idea of the terrible hardships of this Nashville campaign 
may be gathered from the fact that even Wilson's command, 
freshly mounted and thoroughly provided for with all the vast re- 
sources of the Federal government, had in thirty days marched 
and fought itself almost to a stand-still. General Wilson says that 
his troops were " nearly on foot when his advance-guard reached 
the Tennessee River, to see the last of the Confederates disap- 
pearing in the distance beyond the southern shore." 

Looking backward now, it would seem that the war for the 
establishment of the Southern Confederacy should have ceased 
with the battle at Nashville. The demoralization of Hood's army, 
20 577 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B, FORREST 

with the conditions prevailing at Petersburg, and Sherman's un- 
resisted march to Savannah and northward, leave slight justifica- 
tion for the sacrifices which the Southern soldiers were called 
upon to make after this date. Forrest himself was fully impressed 
with the hopelessness of the struggle, but as a soldier he was in 
honor bound to fight to the bitter end, unless the authorities 
should direct otherwise. 

Major Powhatan Ellis, writing of him at this period, says : " I 
had at this time a conversation with General Forrest which im- 
pressed me very deeply. The turn which events soon took 
showed how thoroughly he grasped the situation and saw the in- 
evitable end. He began the conversation by asking me what I 
intended to do when the war was over. I replied, * I do not ex- 
actly understand what you mean.' He said : * To my mind it is 
evident that the end is not far off ; it will only be a question of 
time as to when General Lee's lines at Petersburg will be broken, 
for Grant is wearing him out ; with unlimited resources of men 
and money, he must ultimately force Lee to leave Virginia or 
surrender. Lee's army will never leave Virginia ; they will not 
follow him out when the time comes, and that will end the war.' "* 

After the Tennessee had been crossed on the 27th of Decem- 
ber, Forrest, with the approval of General Hood, moved his com- 
mand to the neighborhood of Corinth, at which point he was bet- 
ter able to secure forage for his horses and food for his men. 
Roddey's brigade alone was left to look after the crossings of the 
Tennessee between Decatur and Waterloo, and to protect that 
section from incursions by the Federal cavalry. With the excep- 
tion of Ross's brigade, which was composed of Texans, all of the 
remaining troops under Forrest were from Kentucky, Tennessee, 
Mississippi, and northern Alabama. Retaining the Texans to do 
scout, picket, and guard duty, the other brigades were given fur- 
lough for twenty days, in which time they were to return to their 
various homes, procure new clothing, and, if possible, horses, and 
gather up stragglers from the Confederate army. They were 
also to capture any outlying detachments of Federal troops, fire 
into the transports on the various streams, and in every way to 
annoy the enemy as much as possible. The eagerness with 

* Manuscript notes in possession of the author. 
$78 



TROOPS FURLOUGHED 

which these war-worn veterans hastened to their homes within the 
country occupied by the Union army may be realized from the 
following, taken from the History of the Seventh Tennessee Cav- 
alry, by J. P. Young : " On the 5th of January, 1865, the Seventh 
Tennessee Regiment was furloughed for twenty days. Loud 
shouts of joy burst from their lips, and with three cheers for their 
esteemed commander the soldiers turned their horses' heads to 
their homes in west Tennessee. The rush and hurry of that ride 
for home will never be forgotten by the participants. And then 
the joyous, fleeting hours at home, where the weather-beaten, 
battle-scarred troopers revelled in the delights of sunny smiles and 
joyful tears of tender mothers and sisters, and lived on all the 
good things that the pitiless war on the border had yet left in 
the larders. Time seemed to fly with eagle wings and hastened 
the men to camp and hardship. To their lasting honor be it 
said, the Seventh Tennessee Cavalry to a man returned to their 
colors." 

General T. H. Bell and other ofificers accompanied their com- 
mands on furlough, and under their direction numerous minor ex- 
peditions and raids throughout the occupied territory were made, 
capturing supplies and horses and greatly disturbing the naviga- 
tion on the Cumberland, Tennessee, and Mississippi rivers. Acting 
Rear-Admiral Lee, in January of 1865, wrote to General Thomas: 
" I respectfully suggest that, if consistent with your plans and 
views, Forrest and his gang be entirely cleaned out of western 
Kentucky and Tennessee." 

General Sherman, in a despatch to Thomas at this time, says : 
" I suppose Forrest is again scattered to get horses and men and 
to divert attention. I would like to have Forrest hunted down 
and killed, but doubt if we can do that yet." 

Meanwhile Ross's Texans were busily engaged on picket-duty 
along the boundary -line between northern Mississippi and west 
Tennessee. To such an extent were desertions from Hood's in- 
fantry prevailing, that this general directed Forrest on the 14th 
of January to " keep picked bodies of cavalry near at hand, that 
they may be ready to pursue and capture any men that may de- 
sert from the army. If the first party of deserters can be caught 
and promptly punished, it will perhaps deter others from doing 
the same." 

579 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

While Forrest was at Corinth, Roddey's brigade, which had been 
left in the Tennessee valley, in northern Alabama, had signally 
failed in the duty to which it was assigned. By a movement of 
great boldness, Colonel Palmer, of Wilson's command, had crossed 
the Tennessee River with a picked detachment, surprised and 
beaten Roddey's cavalry, and captured and destroyed Hood's 
pontoon and wagon train. This disaster called forth a communi- 
cation from General Beauregard to General Cooper at Richmond, 
dated January 22, 1865 : "General Hood reports the loss of his 
pontoon-train, eighty-three boats, one hundred and fifty wagons, 
and four hundred mules, due to inability of General Roddey to 
bring his troops from their homes. I wish to substitute another 
brigade in its place, and put all the cavalry of this department 
under one commanding officer, Forrest." 

This recommendation was promptly approved by the Confeder- 
ate authorities, and on the 24th of January, in the following model 
circular, Forrest assumed command of the department. No more 
comprehensive papers were drafted by any commander than the 
official communications dictated by this man, who said he never 
" saw a pen but what he thought of a snake." 

"[Circular.] 

Headquarters Cavalry Department of Alabama, 1 
Mississippi, and East Louisiana. \ 

"Verona, Mississippi, ya««arj/ 28, 1865. 
" In obedience to orders from department headquarters I hereby assume 
command of the District of Mississippi, east Louisiana, and west Tennessee. 
In doing so it is due both to myself and the troops thus placed under my 
command, to see that every effort will be made to render them thoroughly 
effective. To do this, strict obedience to all orders must be rigidly enforced 
by subordinate commanders, and prompt punishment inflicted for all viola- 
tions of law and of orders. The rights and property of citizens must be re- 
spected and protected, and the illegal organizations of cavalry, prowling 
through the country, must be placed regularly and properly in the service or 
driven from the country. They are in many instances nothing more or less 
than roving bands of deserters, absentees, stragglers, horse -thieves, and 
robbers, who consume the substance and appropriate the property of citi- 
zens without remuneration, and whose acts of lawlessness and crime demand 
a remedy, which I shall not hesitate to apply, even to extermination. The 
maxim ' that kindness to bad men is cruelty to the good ' is peculiarly ap- 
plicable to soldiers ; for all agree, without obedience and strict discipline 
troops cannot be made effective, and kindness to a bad soldier does great in- 

580 



COMMISSIONED LIEUTENANT-GENERAL 

justice to those who are faithful and true ; and it is but justice to those who 
discharge their duties with promptness and fidelity that others who are diso- 
bedient, turbulent, and mutinous, or who desert or straggle from their com- 
mands, should be promptly and effectively dealt with, as the law directs. I 
sincerely hope, therefore, while in the discharge of the arduous duties de- 
volving upon me. and in all the efforts necessary to render the troops of 
this command available and effective to suppress lawlessness and defend the 
country. I shall have the hearty co-operation of all subordinate command- 
ers and the unqualified support of every brave and faithful soldier. 

" N. B. Forrest." 

One of Forrest's first acts, after being made commander-in-chief 
of the cavalry in this district, was to reorganize his troops, plac- 
ing all the Mississippians in Chalmers's division, the Alabamians 
and Kentuckians in a single brigade under Buford, the Tennessee 
troops under Brigadier-General T. H. Bell, while Ross's Texans 
were placed under Brigadier-General W. H. Jackson. Colonel 
Robert McCulIoch, with his famous regiment, the Second Mis- 
souri, was made an independent command, and moved directly 
with General Forrest. 

During the months of January and February, 1865, nothing of 
importance occurred in Forrest's territory. With untiring zeal 
and energy he applied himself to refitting his command and to 
improving their discipline and effectiveness. On the 28th of 
February he received his commission as lieutenant-general. On 
the following day, March ist, he transferred his headquarters to 
West Point, Mississippi, near the Alabama line. 

One of the most difficult problems with which he was confront- 
ed was the correction of certain grave abuses which had been 
encouraged by the issuance of orders from Richmond granting 
authority to various persons to raise troops within the territory 
occupied by the Union forces. Forrest was convinced that in 
many instances these commissions were being used simply to 
evade actual service in the army, and his views as to the manner 
in which these agents should be dealt with are given in the fol- 
lowing letter : 

"Headquarters Forrest's Cavalry Corps, 
"West Point, Mississippi, March 18, 1865. 
" Hon. John C. Breckinridge, Secretary of War, Richmond, Virginia : 

"General,— I take the liberty of addressing you relative to the state of 
affairs in the district of southern Kentucky, and to bring to your notice and 

581 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

knowledge existing evils which can alone be corrected by yourself as the 
chief of the War Department. It is due to myself to state that I disclaim all 
desire or intention to dictate. So far from it, I hesitate even now to 
make known the facts or to suggest the remedies to be applied. No other 
motive than the good of the service prompts me to address you. A military 
district was formed in southern Kentucky, including a small portion of west 
Tennessee, and Brigadier-General A. R. Johnson assigned to the command 
of it. The object of creating this district was doubtless for the purpose of 
raising and organizing troops for our army. Its permanent occupation by 
any force raised within its limits was not expected or calculated upon. If 
it was, the sequel shows that both in raising troops or holding the territory 
the experiment is a complete failure. General Johnson, who was often report- 
ed to have from twelve to eighteen hundred men, was finally wounded and 
captured, and his men scattered to the four winds. Brigadier-General Lyon 
then succeeded him, and was driven across the Tennessee River into north 
Alabama, with only a handful of men. Nothing has been added to our army, 
for while the men flock to and remain with General Johnson or General 
Lyon as long as they can stay in Kentucky, as soon as the enemy presses 
and they turn southward the men scatter, and my opinion is that they can 
never be brought out or organized until we send our troops there in sufficient 
numbers to bring them out by force. So far from gaining any strength for 
the army, the Kentucky brigade now in my command has only ibout three 
hundred men in camp (Third, Seventh, and Eighth Kentucky regiments). 
They have deserted and attached themselves to the roving bands of guerillas, 
jayhawkers, and plunderers who are the natural offspring of authorities 
given to parties to raise troops within the enemy's lines. The authorities 
given to would-be colonels, and by them delegated to would-be captains and 
lieutenants, have created squads of men who are dodging from pillar to post, 
preying upon the people, robbing them of their horses and other property, to 
the manifest injury of the country and our cause. 

"The same state of affairs exists in west Tennessee and along the Missis- 
sippi River. The country is filled with deserters and stragglers, who run 
away and attach themselves to the commands of those who have the au- 
thorities referred to. They never organize, report to nobody, are responsi- 
ble to no one, and exist by plunder and robbery. There may, perhaps, be a 
few exceptions, but, as a general thing, men who besiege the department for 
such authorities are officers without position or command, who by flattering 
representations, recommendations, and influential friends avoid the ranks 
by obtaining authority to raise troops within the enemy's lines. I venture 
the assertion that, where one succeeds and organizes a command, ninety-nine 
fail, and that they take twenty men out of the army to one placed in it. I 
therefore unhesitatingly recommend that all parties holding such authorities, 
or acting under orders from those who do hold them, be ordered to re- 
port with what men they have to the nearest department commander within 
a limited period, for consolidation and organization, and those failing so 

582 



ADVISES THE AUTHORITIES AT RICHMOND 

to report to have their authorities revoked and themselves subjected to con- 
scription whenever caught. Do not understand me as reflecting on General 
Johnson or General Lyon. They did all they could, no doubt, to carry out 
the objects of the department in their district. They have failed, and the fact 
to my mind is demonstrated most clearly that the conscripts and deserters 
in west Tennessee and Kentucky will never come out until brought out by 
force. If all authorities to raise troops in the enemy's lines are revoked and 
the mustering officers ordered out, troops can be occasionally sent in under 
good and reliable officers to arrest and bring out deserters and break up the 
bands of lawless men who not only rob the citizens themselves, but whose 
presence in the country gives a pretext to Federal authority for oppressing 
the people. 

" I am, General, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

" N. B. Forrest, Lieutenant-General." 

Bearing upon the same theme, he wrote the following: 

" Headquarters Forrest's Cavalry Corps, 
"West Point, Mississippi, March i8, 1865. 
" Colonel E. Surget, Assistant Adjutant-General : 

" Colonel, — I have the honor to state that a few days since I directed 
Brigadier-General Wright to order out of west Tennessee a number of of- 
ficers purporting to have authorities to raise troops between the ages of eigh- 
teen and forty- five years. In reply I received from General Wright a letter, 
an extract from which I respectfully enclose. I, of course, was not aware that 
Colonel , or any one else, held authority from the lieutenant-general com- 
manding to raise new commands in west Tennessee, and from a conversation 
had with him am not yet satisfied that they have such orders from department 

headquarters. In regard to Colonel , I desire to say that he was a friend 

and fellow-townsman of mine before the war, a lawyer, and an out-and-out war 
man. He raised a regiment, fell out with General Bragg at Shiloh,got out of 
his command, and has done nothing since. He has been ostensibly engaged 
since 1862 in raising a regiment. He has not succeeded, nor do I believe, even 
under the most favorable circumstances, he ever will succeed. I hope, 
therefore, that all such officers may be ordered to report to department head- 
quarters, that the authorities given them may be revoked, and they be put in the 

service. Colonel • is a stout, able man, has played around long enough, 

and it is due to himself, his family, and the country that he should go into 
the army, and into the ranks if he can do no better. I herewith enclose a 
letter to the honorable Secretary of War, which I hope the lieutenant-gen- 
eral commanding will endorse and forward.* If men engaged in raising com- 
mands were ordered into the ranks, and all squads and unattached companies 
not regularly in the service were outlawed, we would get ten men to fill up 

* See preceding letter. 
583 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

our old commands where we now get one. Those we could not run down 
and catch, the Federals would drive out to us. At any rate, we would rid 
ourselves of the odium attached to their paternity, and would not by the 
people be held responsible for their acts of lawlessness and crime. I do not 
for a moment question the motives of the honorable Secretary of War or the 
lieutenant-general commanding in giving these authorities, for every one is 
naturally desirous of increasing our strength, and willing to do almost any- 
thing to accomplish that end. It is not the authority itself, but the abuse of 
it, which is complained of, and in giving them the benefit of my experience 
and observation as to practical results, I hope I shall not be deemed officious, 
or as assuming to myself superior judgment in such matters ; but I speak 
truly when I say that whenever a paper of the kind is presented to me I can 
but regard it as an exemption from duty for the war, a license to plunder, 
and a nest-egg of desertion, all of which is chargeable, not to the measures 
adopted to increase the strength of our army, but to the men, who not only 
fail to make good their representations and promises in raising additional 
troops for the army, but are actually creating uncontrollable currents of 
desertion, which are rapidly depleting commands already in the field. 
" I am, Colonel, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

" N. B. Forrest." 

During January and February Forrest's scouts had reported a 
concentration near Waterloo and Gravelly Springs on the Ten- 
nessee of a large cavalry command under General James H. Wil- 
son. Other expeditions for the invasion of his territory were being 
organized in Memphis and in the neighborhood of Vicksburg and 
Baton Rouge on the Mississippi River. In addition a heavy con- 
centration of Federal infantry was being made in the vicinity of 
Mobile, under General Canby, while still another army of invasion 
was forming in Pensacola. Fully seventy -five thousand Union 
soldiers were by March ist ready, as soon as the conditions of 
the weather and the streams were favorable, to march into his de- 
partment. It was, however, the command of Wilson, on the Ten- ■ 
nessee River, which gave him the greatest concern. He clearly 
foresaw that their object was the invasion of Alabama, and in all 
probability the destruction of the large Confederate arsenals at 
Selma. So convinced was he of this intention on the part of the 
Federal commander that he moved his headquarters to West 
Point, near the Alabama line, and concentrated his troops in that 
region. 

He also took the precaution, early in March, in order to prevent 
any possible error on the part of his subordinates in moving rapid- 

584 



HIS DEPARTMENT THREATENED 

\y to the relief of Selma or Tuscaloosa when ordered, to have the 
roads leading thither newly sign-boarded. A general notice re- 
cites that: "One road will have a sign-board 'Tuscaloosa'; the 
other a sign-board ' Pleasant Ridge, CUnton, Eutaw.' The road 
to Tuscaloosa, then, will have the mark X on the_trees. The 
road to Finch's ferry will have the trees marked X." He also 
directed at this early date that a pontoon-bridge be placed over 
the Warrior River at Finch's ferry, and supplies accumulated so 
that five days' rations would always be on hand ready to be cook- 
ed as soon as the troops should receive orders to march. 

Forrest's formidable adversary. General James H. Wilson, was 
no less busy than himself in increasing the efficiency of his cav- 
alry command during the early months of 1865. With remark- 
able zeal he had completed by the middle of March the organiza- 
tion of the most magnificent body of mounted troops which were 
ever gathered under one commander on the western hemisphere. 
He had called to his assistance young men of experience who had 
already won reputation for courage, ability, and energy. An 
English military critic, Colonel Chesney, says of Wilson's staff 
that it was the best cavalry staff ever organized, and in every way 
worthy of imitation.* 

By the first week of March, 27,000 cavalrymen, 17,000 of whom 
were mounted, were gathered in the camps between Gravelly 
Springs and Waterloo, on the Tennessee River.f 

Generals Thomas and Wilson had determined upon the inva- 
sion of Alabama with this large force, for the purpose of destroy- 
ing the valuable arsenals and government stores of the Confeder- 
acy at Selma. This accomplished, circumstances were to decide 
the further movements of the expedition. General Grant had 
advised Thomas, with some five thousand men, to make simply a 
demonstration on Tuscaloosa and Selma, but to this both Thomas 
and Wilson objected so strenuously that the order from head- 
quarters was rescinded. They argued wisely that so small a force, 
so remote from its base of supplies, would place itself practically 
at the mercy of Forrest. 

* Z//> of General George H. Thomas, by Donn Piatt. 

t Knipe's division of 5000 mounted men was sent by steamer to Canby. 
and Hatch's division (dismounted), about 7500 in number, was left m camp, 
making 14,500 ready for duty with Wilson. 

585 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

In the Life of General George H. Thomas there occurs the fol- 
lowing : " It was known that the hitherto invincible Forrest had 
been put in command of all the cavalry in Alabama, Mississippi, 
and eastern Louisiana, and he, after the retreat from middle Ten- 
nessee, had taken post at Corinth, where he devoted himself to 
the concentration, discipline, and reorganization of his command. 
Forrest was an active and resourceful commander, who did not 
fail to patrol all the country of northern Alabama, Mississippi, 
and Tennessee beyond the lines of Federal occupation. He not 
only gathered in all absentees that he could find, but mercilessly 
conscripted all the able-bodied men that were fit for service, while 
his picked and trusty scouts, familiar with the country, were sent 
into the Federal lines to gather all the information they could 
in reference to the strength and future movements of the Federal 
forces." 

On the 22d of March, General Wilson, with the first, second, 
and fourth divisions (14,000 effectives), consisting of 12,500 
mounted and 1500 dismounted men — the latter being used to act 
as train-escort until they could secure horses — started southward 
from Waterloo on the Tennessee River, their immediate destina- 
tion being Selma. These troops were armed with the Spencer 
magazine repeating-rifle, the most formidable weapon known to 
warfare at that time. 

General Boynton says : " They were all veterans, in excellent 
discipline and condition, and full of enterprise and zeal. The di- 
vision and brigade commanders were mostly young men, but they 
had been in the war from the beginning, had had plenty of expe- 
rience, and knew both how to inspire and command the confidence 
necessary to success." He further says: " It may be doubted if a 
better cavalry command had ever been organized in any country 
in so short a time. Each trooper carried five days' light rations, 
one pair of extra horseshoes, and one hundred rounds of ammuni- 
tion. Five days' rations of hard bread and ten of sugar and salt 
were taken on pack-animals. A light wagon-train carried forty- 
five days' rations of coffee, twenty of sugar, fifteen of salt, and 
eighty rounds of ammunition. The supply-train consisted of two 
hundred and fifty wagons, which were sent back to the Tennessee 
as fast as the contents of each was consumed. There was, besides, 
a canvas pontoon-train of thirty boats, hauled by six-mule teams." 

586 



MAKES QUICK MARCH TO SELMA 

Starting on diverging roads, the command moved southward 
in three columns, with directions to rendezvous at Jasper, the 
county seat of Walker County, Alabama, where they arrived with- 
out opposition, and proceeded thence to Elyton, in Jefferson Coun- 
ty, arriving there on the 29th and 30th of March. 

At Jasper, on the 27th, Wilson learned of the advance of a 
portion of Forrest's command, under Chalmers, which was re- 
ported to be coming towards Tuscaloosa by way of Bridgeville. 
Knowing so well with whom he had to deal in this crisis, he dis- 
played a promptness and boldness which proves him to have 
been an able and resolute commander. He knew that he must 
move with lightning-like rapidity in order to beat his adversary. 
He therefore determined to strip himself for the race to Selma. 
He ordered his division commanders to replenish the haversacks, 
pack everything they must take with them on mules, leave the 
wagons, haul nothing but the artillery, and march with the greatest 
possible rapidity by way of Elyton to Montevallo. 

Forrest had kept himself fully informed as to Wilson's move- 
ments. His position, however, was one of great perplexity, by 
reason of the advance of a second expedition from the direction of 
Pensacola towards Montgomery, compelling him to divide his com- 
mand, which even when concentrated was still numerically much in- 
ferior to the army of Wilson.* On the 23d he had directed Buford 

* General Forrest made no official report of the campaign in Alabama in 
1865. I have been unable to obtain a roster of his entire command at this 
time. In November, 1898, in answer to an inquiry on this subject addressed 
to the War Department at Washington, I received the following : " A report of 
Chalmers's division, Forrest's Cavalry, dated at Pickensville, Alabama, March 
24, 1865, shows the following effective total: 

Escort 64 

Armstrong's brigade 1432 

Adams's brigade 1077 

Starke's brigade 1013 

Hudson's battery 62 

Total 3648 

" As Chalmers's escort, Adams's and Starke's brigades, and Hudson's bat- 
tery took no part whatever in the fighting with Wilson's column, it would 
leave only Armstrong's men with Forrest in this campaign. A report of 
Ross's brigade, Jackson's division, dated March 25, 1865, shows present an 

587 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

to hurry to Selma and to complete the pontoon-bridge at that city. 
From there he was to detach a portion of his brigade to look out 
for the Federal invasion from Pensacola. Chalmers had already 
been thrown forward as far as Pickensville, in Alabama, and on the 
25th, two days before Wilson reached Jasper, one of Forrest's 
brigades (Armstrong's) and Hudson's battery were ordered to 
move via Finch's ferry, where a pontoon had already been laid, 
towards Selma. They were ordered to take eighty rounds of 
small-arm and two hundred and fifty rounds of artillery ammuni- 
tion to the piece. 

Starke's brigade, of Chalmers's division, was ordered to follow 
on the next day as rapidly as possible, and with the same amount 
of ammunition. Adams's brigade followed Starke's, and on the 
same date Jackson's division was directed to follow without de- 
lay. This order to Jackson says : " Report your arrival at Selma 
by telegraph to the lieutenant-general commanding. Also report 
by return courier the time you leave Pickensville. It is impor- 
tant that you move at once." Jackson was to move by way of 
Tuscaloosa, as is shown from a despatch from Lieutenant-General 
Taylor, at Meridian, to Forrest, on the 26th of March, which says : 
" In view of movements from Russellville and Moulton, your or- 
der for Jackson to move via Tuscaloosa is right. Jackson, with 
his own and Lyon's command, should meet, whip, and get rid 
of that column of the enemy as soon as possible." 

Leaving as many troops as could be spared from the command 
to meet the expedition which was threatening from Memphis, and 
to protect the country in the direction of the Mississippi River 
towards Vicksburg, Forrest moved in person towards Selma, 
reaching the bridge over the Sipsey, in Alabama, on March 29th, 
from which point he sent the following despatch to General W. 
H. Jackson : " The lieutenant-general directs that you leave one 
commissioned officer with twenty men here for the purpose of 
guarding the three crossings — this bridge, and Carter's and Colter's 
ferries, one above and one below. They will remain here until day 

effective total of 328. There is no available official report of Bell's brigade, 
of Jackson's division, except one dated May 23, 1865, which shows present an 
effective total of 984. This would make Jackson's division number an effec- 
tive total of less than 1500, none of whom, however, took part with Forrest 
in contesting Wilson's advance in front of Selma." 

588 



SHOOTING DESERTERS 

after to-morrow morning, when they will bury the two men who 
have been shot here at the bridge to-day, then follow on and report 
to their commands at Marion, Alabama, or wherever they may be. 
Should the officer left behind catch other deserters, he will take 
them to the bridge and execute them." When it became known 
that General Forrest was ordered by General Taylor to lead his 
troops to Selma, a number of men, fearing this movement would 
ultimately carry them into Johnston's army in North Carolina, 
left the command without permission and made for their homes 
within the enemy's lines. The commander was greatly exasper- 
ated at these desertions, and left guards at the various crossings 
of this stream, with stringent orders to arrest any soldiers moving 
through the country on detached duty without proper written 
authority. 

At Sipsey bridge two men were brought in as deserters. They 
acknowledged that they had been in the service, and were then 
on their way to their homes in Kentucky. A drum-head court- 
martial was called and they were put on trial. They had no fur- 
loughs or passes or official papers showing to what command they 
belonged or why they were quitting the army. One of the pris- 
oners claimed that he was over age, while the other asserted that 
he was too young to be liable to military duty. They were con- 
demned and executed. The bodies were exposed by the side of 
the road in plain view of where the troops should pass, and upon 
a tree was nailed a placard in large letters: 

SHOT FOR DESERTION. 

The execution of these men was extremely unfortunate. Their 
statements turned out to be true in every particular, but they were 
not credited by the court-martial which pronounced sentence. 
Forrest was entirely justified, not only by military law, but by 
th/C desperate dilemma in which he found himself placed, in hav- 
ing the sentence of the court executed. Moreover, he had been 
directed by General Hood, just before this officer was relieved 
from command, to make an example of the first deserters he 
should catch. 

By the afternoon of March 30th General Wilson had concen- 
trated his entire command in and near the village of Elyton, in 
Jefferson County, Alabama, where the city of Birmingham now 

589 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

stands. He had quit his wagon-train between the two forks of 
the Warrior River, in a wild and rugged region, where he felt it 
could be successfully defended by the dismounted veterans left 
there for that purpose. He was now in light weight, and evident- 
ly full of confidence that even Forrest could not stand up before 
him. Nothing but over-confidence would have justified the detach- 
ment from his main column of Croxton, who with eighteen hundred 
effective troops was sent on an extremely hazardous enterprise. It 
was an error which might have annihilated Croxton and placed his 
own column in extreme jeopardy had proper advantage been taken 
of it. While he was a soldier of first-class abiHty, and his men were 
tried veterans, Jackson so outnumbered him th^t it would seem 
that nothing but great good-luck and fast horses rescued Croxton 
from the critical position in which the orders of his commander 
had placed him. General Wilson was not aware that Forrest's 
command, advancing from the direction of West Point towards 
Tuscaloosa, was so near him at that time. Croxton's orders were 
to proceed to Tuscaloosa, capture that place, and destroy the 
bridge there, the factories, and other public property. This ac- 
complished, he was to rejoin the main corps in the vicinity of 
Selma, travelling by the Centreville road. He was only cautioned 
to look out for Lyon, who with a small brigade was expected to 
be at Tuscaloosa on the 29th, marching towards Montevallo. 

In explanation of this division of his force in the presence of 
the enemy, Wilson says: "In addition to covering our front and 
inflicting a heavy blow upon the enemy, I hoped by this detach- 
ment to develop any movement on his part intended to intercept 
my main column." 

So near were the Confederates in force to Wilson that Croxton 
had not marched a day until he was practically surrounded by 
the Confederate cavalry, and, as far as General Wilson's expedition 
was concerned, this brigade disappeared from view at four o'clock 
on the afternoon of the 30th of March, and was not again seen 
until it rejoined him at Macon, Georgia, in the latter part of May. 

Moving as ordered, Croxton camped, on the night of the 30th, 
eight miles from Elyton. On the 31st of March, pushing onward 
in the direction of Tuscaloosa, at four o'clock in the afternoon he 
came into the road along which the rear of one of Forrest's col- 
umns (Jackson's division) had just passed in the direction of 

59P 



THE OPPORTUNITY CROXTON MISSED 

Plantersville. Here was a dilemma, or, as he termed it, " a state of 
case," which the orders to the wandering brigadier did not con- 
template. In his perplexity Croxton took the bull by the horns 
and turned aside from the direct route to Tuscaloosa. He says 
that he determined to follow Forrest during the night, hoping to 
be near enough to co-operate with the main column in the fight 
which he felt sure would come off on the following day. At the 
same time he attempted to notify Wilson and McCook of his 
change of direction. That night Croxton again changed his mind 
and concluded to go on to Tuscaloosa, as he had been ordered. 
Posting two companies of the Sixth Kentucky as a rear vidette, 
he retraced his steps and pushed rapidly westward. He had pro- 
ceeded only a few miles when one of these rear companies, under 
Captain Parrish, was fiercely attacked, early on the morning of 
April 1st, and surrounded. Parrish was wounded and his com- 
mand captured. Had Croxton at this moment known what an 
advantageous position he occupied he might have performed one 
of the most brilliant exploits of the war. By mere good-luck he 
had come in between the rear of Jackson's division and his artil- 
lery and wagon-train, which were struggling along some four miles 
distant, in the vain endeavor to keep in sight of the swift-moving 
horsemen. Jackson was for the time entirely ignorant of Croxton's 
presence, and had the Union commander moved rapidly westward 
he could have captured and destroyed every gun and wagon of this 
Confederate division. Instead of doing this he trailed along after the 
Confederate rear-guard until Jackson had discovered his presence 
and turned upon him. Even then the road was wide open for 
Croxton to move to Tuscaloosa, but he did not take advantage of 
it. When Jackson retraced his steps to strike him, instead of 
marching rapidly on a direct route to this city he turned squarely to 
the west, and ran away with such celerity that he soon had Jackson 
many miles behind him. The Federal brigadier reached Johnson's 
ferry on the Tombigbee, some forty miles northward from Tusca- 
loosa, where on the 2d of April he succeeded in getting across. 

The ever-vigilant Jackson had meanwhile sent a courier to the 
commander of the small garrison of militia at Tuscaloosa to be 
on his guard and not let Croxton outwit him, and had then 
turned eastward towards Plantersville, in order to be ready to 
throw himself upon the flank and rear of Wilson, according to 

591 



Life of general n. b. Forrest 

the strategy of Forrest, who had thus laid his plans for the de- 
struction of Wilson's corps. 

The presence of Croxton's small force in Jackson's rear was 
probably the salvation of Wilson, for it delayed Jackson's east- 
ward march for several hours, enabling General Wilson to hurry 
McCook and LaGrange to destroy the Centreville bridge. Had 
Jackson pushed on regardless of Croxton, he could have secured 
this crossing, and with his superior force should have whipped 
McCook, and then pounced upon the rear and flank of Long and 
Upton, as Forrest had planned. In all probability this would 
have held Wilson in check sufficiently to have allowed Chalmers 
time to reach Plantersville when Armstrong did. The fortunate 
capture of the despatches of Major Anderson in all probability 
prevented a cavalry fight between Forrest and Wilson the like of 
which had not been seen on the American continent. 

Moving with boldness and celerity early on the morning of 
April 3d, Croxton, coming from a direction entirely unsuspected 
by the small garrison of home-guards or militia which had been 
left in Tuscaloosa, reached the suburbs on the west side of the 
river, seized the bridge, captured the city without opposition, 
and promptly destroyed all government property there, together 
with the State university. He was now so completely isolated 
from Wilson that nothing was left to him but to wander as far 
out of harm's way as possible, until he could hear something defi- 
nite from his commander. On April 6th he unexpectedly col- 
lided with the command of General Wirt Adams, was worsted in 
the encounter, but escaped with the loss of two officers, thirty- 
two men, and two ambulances. Continuing on in his wanderings, 
on April 19th he arrived at Elyton, from which point he had 
started twenty days earlier. A waggish trooper suggested that 
General Croxton had been allotted one of the horses Wilson had 
impressed from a circus — it could not get out of the habit of 
moving in a circle. Here at Elyton for the first time he received 
information that Wilson's corps had captured Selma, and had 
gone to Montgomery and was marching east. He straightway 
headed for Georgia, and on the 20th of May rejoined his com- 
mander at Macon. 

At the time that Croxton was detached, on the afternoon of 
the 30th of March, near Elyton, Upton's division had advanced 

592 



CONFEDERATE DESPATCHES CAPTURED 

rapidly, driving in the Confederate pickets to Montevallo, arriv- 
ing there about dark on the 30th. He was followed by the 
division of General Long and LaGrange's brigade of McCook's 
division. General Wilson reached Montevallo at one o'clock on 
March 31st. On this afternoon a sharp engagement took place 
between the Federals and a small force of Confederates— three 
hundred Kentuckians of Crossland's brigade, Roddey's division, 
and a detachment of militia under General Dan Adams. The 
Confederates were forced back to a creek some five miles south 
of Montevallo, where they again made a stand, and after a sharp, 
short fight at close quarters, in which the Kentuckians behaved 
with their accustomed gallantry, they were finally driven from 
their position by the enemy in superior force. Upton's division 
encamped for the night fourteen miles southward from Monte- 
vallo, and at daylight of April ist, himself in the lead, the entire 
cavalry corps of General Wilson, with the exception of Croxton's 
brigade, moved forward to Randolph. This done, General Up- 
ton, with his division, was directed to take the road leading some- 
what to the east by way of Maplesville, and thence by the old 
Selma road south, while Long was instructed to push forward on 
the new road. General Wilson was playing in great good-luck at 
this crisis of his campaign. To Croxton's bold dash at Tusca- 
loosa and his fortunate escape, and McCook's safe return from his 
isolated position at the Centreville bridge a few days later, there 
was added at Randolph, on the morning of April ist, another 
stroke of fortune. On this morning a detachment of Upton's 
division captured a Confederate courier with despatches which 
led to the complete undoing of Forrest. As Lee's despatch in 
the Maryland campaign, found in the roadway by McClellan, told 
of the Confederate general's movements and intentions, so these 
communications placed in the hands of Wilson the fullest infor- 
mation of the exact position of Forrest's various detachments at 
that hour. McClellan failed to take advantage of his great find, 
but with W^ilson it was otherwise. 

The Confederate commander had not failed to appreciate the 
necessity of a rapid concentration of his command, in order to 
throw his troops in full force between the Union column and 
Selma. He had taken every precaution which was necessary, and 
his plan of attack upon Wilson at this time was one of his most 
2P 593 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

brilliant conceptions. It failed only because of the capture of 
these despatches. At 2 P.M. on the 31st of March, while on the 
Montevallo road, nine miles from Centreville, he sent Lieutenant 
Glass, of the First Mississippi Cavalry, to General Jackson, direct- 
ing this officer to repair straightway to the plantation of Mr. 
James A. Hill, "where General Jackson will find orders for his 
movement. Should Brigadier-Generals Bell or Campbell be in 
the advance of General Jackson, they will turn back as above di- 
rected." At six o'clock on the night of the 31st the following 
later order was despatched by courier to Jackson : 

"Six Miles from Montevallo, March 31, 1865, 6 p.m. 
"Brigadier-General IV. H. Jackson, Cavalry Division: 

" General, — Since the despatch of 2 p.m. of this date, per Lieutenant 
Glass, the lieutenant-general commanding directs me to say that the enemy 
are moving right on down the railroad with their wagon-train and artillery. 
He directs that you follow down after them, taking the road behind them 
from Montevallo. He further directs me to say that he does not wish you 
to bring on a general engagement, as he thinks their force is much stronger 
than yours ; and an engagement should be avoided unless you find the bal- 
ance of our forces in supporting distance of you." 

The courier carrying this despatch to Jackson was captured 
early on April ist near Randolph, by Upton's division, and upon 
his person were also found the two following despatches : 

"Centreville, April i, 1865, 2 a.m. 
" General, — I opened the enclosed despatch from General Jackson, to as- 
certain his position, etc. Sent couriers last night at 11.30 to Chalmers and 
Mason. From reports received, and from this despatch, enemy's cavalry, 
or a portion of it, have crossed the Cahawba, and General Jackson will attack 
them at daylight. I shall remain here for further orders and developments, 
and at daylight will take one side of the river or the other. Have sent to 
General Jackson to know the position of his artillery. If the couriers can be 
relied on, the enemy is between him and the battery. Have the dismounted 
men intrenched on this side (east) of the river, and, if the enemy are as repre- 
sented, will move the battery here, cross it over, and move on the nearest 
road to Selma, as directed. The courier can explain General Jackson's po- 
sition and that of the battery. From his statement the battery is in rear of 
General Jackson, on Tuscaloosa road, and the enemy between his force and 
his artillery. Have heard nothing of General Armstrong, but sent orders to 
General Chalmers to move to or between enemy and Selma. Will despatch 
you all information as soon as received. 

" Respectfully, Charles W. Anderson, Aide-de-Camp." 

594 



RESULTS OF CAPTURED DESPATCHES 

[Sub-enclosure.] 

"March 31, 1865, 8.45 p.m. 
"fames Hill, Sr. : 

" Major,— I find the enemy encamped on Huntsville and Tuscaloosa 
road at White's, three miles from point where Huntsville road comes into 
Tuscaloosa road and six miles from this place. Their strength not yet as- 
certained. I am closing around them with the view of attacking, or, if they 
move to-night, will drive into them. I am placing a force between them 
and Tuscaloosa. Have also directed Colonel Cox, who is in charge of 
artillery and train, some fifteen miles from here, that in case I do not 
gain their front and they advance on Tuscaloosa, to fall back before them, 
impeding their progress ; to notify Colonel Hardcastle, commanding post, to 
have everything in readiness to meet them; and to tear up planks on the 
bridge and remove them, nothing preventing. All appears bright, and I ex- 
pect success. Respectfully, 

" W. H. Jackson, Brigadier-General." 

From these despatches Wilson learned that Forrest, with a 
small portion of his command, was immediately in his front ; that 
Jackson, with his strong division and all the wagons and artillery 
en route from Tuscaloosa towards Centreville, was encamped the 
night before at Hill's plantation, three miles from Scottsville. 
Forrest had ordered, and naturally expected, that Jackson would 
fall in behind Wilson, and when he and Chalmers from the front 
should attack and check him this division from the rear would 
join in the fray and destroy the Union forces. Wilson now knew 
from this intercepted courier that this part of the plan must 
fail. In addition to this he was informed that Chalmers, with the 
other division of Forrest's corps, had arrived at Marion, Alabama, 
and had been ordered to cross the Cahawba and hasten to join 
Forrest north of Selma. These despatches also contained infor- 
mation that a small force of dismounted Confederates had been 
stationed at Centreville, with orders to hold the bridge over the 
Cahawba at that place at all hazards, and in no event to let it fall 
into the hands of the Federals. With this invaluable information 
in hand, Wilson proceeded to make his dispositions to insure the 
discomfiture of his adversary. Jackson must be cut off from all 
hope of closing down upon his rear. To this end, McCook, with 
LaGrange's entire brigade, was ordered to move rapidly to Centre- 
ville, attack the small force left there by Forrest, overwhelm them, 
seize the bridge, leave a garrison to command it, cross the Ca- 
hawba, and develop Jackson's force. If he should be so fortunate 

595 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

as to be able to communicate with Croxton, they were to unite, 
attack Jackson, beat him if they could, and then rejoin the corps 
by the Centreville road to Selma. McCook was successful in capt- 
uring the Centreville bridge, but failed to find Croxton. He found 
Jackson, however, and decided not to risk an engagement with 
this commander, but retreated across the Cahawba, burned the 
bridge, leaving Jackson upon the west shore of this stream, and 
preventing him from joining with Forrest in the fighting which oc- 
curred in the next forty-eight hours. General Wilson says in his 
official report : ** Having thus taken care of the right flank, and 
anticipating Forrest in his intention to play his old game of get- 
ting upon the rear of his opponent, I gave directions to Long and 
Upton to allow him no rest and push him towards Selma with the 
utmost spirit and rapidity." 

On March 31st, at 6 P.M., having sent the despatches just de- 
tailed to Jackson, Forrest also sent a courier to Chalmers, urging 
him to push forward across the Cahawba with all possible celer- 
ity to Ebenezer Church, and place his men in position, where he 
would join him in front of the advancing Federal column. Noth- 
ing more brilliant could have been conceived than the plan mapped 
out by Forrest in this crisis for the destruction of Wilson. He at 
the head of Crossland's brigade, Roddey's division, a detail of two 
hundred men from Armstrong's brigade, and the State troops un- 
der Dan Adams in front of Wilson's advance, would offer resistance 
at every available position from Randolph on towards Selma. 
Jackson, unknown to Wilson, was to follow with his strong di- 
vision immediately in the rear of the Federal column. Chalmers 
was coming, with plenty of time at hrs disposal, to join his division 
to the troops that Forrest had immediately under him at that 
date, and thus reinforced he would be able to check the Federal 
advance. While thus engaged, Jackson would attack from the 
rear and flank as Forrest and Chalmers would assail from the front. 
Had this plan come to its fulfilment, one of the greatest cavalry 
battles of the war would have been fought upon this ground. 

On the afternoon of March 31st, while Crossland, Dan Adams, 
and Roddey were being driven southward before the division of 
Upton, Forrest had arrived on the ground, and was moving from 
Centreville towards Montevallo with his staff, the escort company 
of seventy-five men, and two hundred of Armstrong's command. 

596 



CHALMERS FAILS TO JOIN HIS CHIEF 

The route along which they were travelling came into the road 
over which the Confederates had just retreated, and along which 
the pursuing Federals were then moving. Having approached to 
within less than one hundred yards of the Federals, who were in 
considerable disorder, having lost their formation in the pursuit 
of the flying Confederates, and seeing that his presence had not 
been observed, Forrest, boldly at the head of his staff and escort, 
ordered his men to draw their six-shooters, and in columns of fours 
they charged directly into the road, riding along with the Federal 
cavalry. This sudden and unexpected attack, its boldness, to- 
gether with the severe work of the repeating pistols in the hands 
of these picked men, threw the Federal cavalry at this point into 
great confusion, and drove them in a stampede from the scene.* 
Having captured a number of prisoners. General Forrest learned 
that Wilson's command had passed down the road and was be- 
tween him and Selma. With this information he left the main 
road, and after a swift detour of eight or nine miles passed around 
the Federal column, and reached his command about ten o'clock 
that night in the vicinity of Randolph and in the path of the enemy. 
As the divisions of Upton and Long advanced towards Selma 
early on the morning of April ist, they encountered small detach- 
ments of the Confederates and drove them back with slight effort 
until they reached a point several miles north of Plantersville 
known as Ebenezer Church. Here Forrest was greatly chagrined 
to receive a message from Chalmers informing him that he had 
met with such obstacles in his route that he could not reach 
Plantersville in time to unite with him on that day. Forrest was 
furious with rage upon receipt of this despatch. He sent an 
urgent despatch to his lieutenant that Wilson was pressing down 
upon him with great vigor and overwhelming force, and that he 
would admit of no excuse in not uniting with him at Plantersville, 
or between that place and Selma, before he should be driven into 
the works of that city. Forrest insisted that General Chalmers 
had not moved his division with the alacrity and swiftness which 
the emergency demanded, and which had characterized him on 
other occasions. He, with Starke's brigade, was marching east- 

* Manuscript notes of Captain J. N. Taylor, of Forrest's escort, in posses- 
sion of the author. 

597 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

ward by one route, while Armstrong, who commanded the other 
brigade of his division, was some five miles farther northward, 
travelling by a parallel road. A messenger from Forrest to Chal- 
mers passed through Armstrong's command, and this ofBcer read 
the despatch and forwarded it immediately to General Chalmers. 
He informed Chalmers that under the circumstances he would not 
wait to receive orders from his immediate superior, but would 
march to Forrest on his own responsibility, and urged his division 
commander also to press on towards Plantersville to the rescue 
of their chief. He added that he could then hear firing in that 
direction, and would march rapidly towards it. Armstrong, who 
had the soldierly habit of always arriving in time, swept forward 
with great rapidity and reached Forrest just at dark on the night 
of the 1st of April. 

Realizing the desperate situation of his command at this junct- 
ure, and the necessity for holding the advance of the Federals in 
check until Chalmers could reach Plantersville and be in support- 
ing distance, Forrest had selected a naturally strong position at 
the crossing of Bogler's Creek, had thrown up lay-outs of rails 
and logs, and placed the small force and the artillery at his com- 
mand in the best possible position for defence. Here Roddey's 
division, Crossland's brigade, and several hundred militia under 
General Dan Adams were thrown into line of battle. Forrest, with 
his escort and the two hundred men of Armstrong's brigade, took 
position immediately with the artillery commanding the road ap- 
proaching from the north. To his left Crossland's three hundred 
Kentuckians were posted, while on the extreme right a detach- 
ment of State troops under Adams was placed. The entire Con- 
federate force on the field did not number two thousand men. 
To assail this force General Wilson had on the ground and in 
action, Upton's division, 3900 strong, Long's division of 5127, and 
two full batteries of artillery. It is claimed in the reports, as well 
as in the Life of General George H. Thomas, that Forrest had a 
much larger force than this present ; but after a most careful in- 
quiry I am convinced that he did not have a larger number on 
the field than above given.* The Federal commander claimed 

* The small roster of Forrest's effective force may be fairly well estimated 
from the official reports given on page 587. 

598 



BATTLE AT SELMA 

that Armstrong, with his brigade, took part in this engagement, 
but General Armstrong informed the writer personally that he 
did not effect a junction with Forrest until the latter arrived that 
night at Plantersville. He says that General Wilson got the idea 
that he was present from the fact that there was with Forrest 
in the engagement at Bogler's Creek a detail of two hundred 
men from his brigade. This detail was made from the various 
regiments of his command on account of their having the most 
serviceable horses, and it accompanied Forrest as a reinforcement 
to his escort. 

At four o'clock in the afternoon the Federals appeared, with 
Long's division in front. As soon as the skirmishers opened fire 
Long reinforced his advance-guard, which was composed of a bat- 
talion of the Seventy-second Indiana, by the remainder of that 
regiment, which was dismounted and formed on the left of the 
road going south. Pushing these forward, Wilson and Long or- 
dered a rash sabre charge by four companies of the Seventeenth 
Indiana. As soon as Forrest saw these gallant troopers riding 
down upon him with sabres in air he placed himself in line with 
his escort and Crossland's Kentuckians. He ordered his men to 
reserve the fire of their rifles until the enemy had arrived within 
one hundred yards of their position. They were then to draw 
their revolvers, and with one in each hand to ride in among and 
along with their assailants and use their weapons at close quar- 
ters. As the Federals came near, the horse of one of the front 
platoon became unmanageable, ran away ahead of his line, bolted 
through the Confederates, and struck the wheel of one of the guns 
with such velocity that it knocked the wheel from the spindle, 
dismounted the gun, killed the horse, and threw his rider to the 
ground, where he was immediately killed by being knocked in the 
head with a gun-stick by one of the artillerists. As the main 
body of the charging column swept into the Confederate line, 
Forrest and his escort, and two companies of Crossland's Ken- 
tuckians, under Captain H. A.Tyler, rode in among them, and the 
desperate character of the encounter which occurred may well 
be imagined. It was one of the most terrific hand-to-hand con- 
flicts which occurred between cavalry soldiers during the war. It 
was a test between the sabre in the hands of as brave a lot of 
men as ever rode horses and the six-shooter in the hands of ex- 

599 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

perts that were just as desperately brave. Forrest was most 
viciously assailed. His conspicuous presence made him the ob- 
ject of direct attack by a brave young officer, Captain Taylor, of 
the Seventeenth Indiana, who with five or six others of the 
Union troopers were killed in this attempt to slay the Confederate 
general. In this fierce onslaught the Federals lost twelve killed 
and forty wounded.* 

From three officers of the escort, who took part in this thrilling 
encounter and witnessed Forrest's struggle with Captain Taylor 
and his men, the following description is taken : 

Lieutenant George L. Cowan says : " As the Federals dashed 
forward in their charge upon our line, they evidently recognized 
General Forrest's headquarters flag, near which he himself was, with 
his escort gathered about him. He told us to draw our six-shoot- 
ers and stand our ground, no matter how many rode into us. As 
they came on, we fired with our rifles one volley, and then drew 
both of our pistols and rode forward to meet them. One of the 
Federals was so far ahead of the advance platoon that we saw 
his horse was running away with him. He went wildly through 
our line, dashed against the wheel of one of the pieces of artillery 
just in our rear with such force that the wheel was knocked off," 
and the rider and horse hurled to the ground, from which neither 
arose. One of the gunners knocked him in the head with a ram- 
rod. Fortunately for the escort the Federals were using the 
sabre while we had our six-shooters, and this accounts for the 
difference in the losses on both sides. I saw General Forrest sur- 
rounded by six Federals at one time, and they were all slashing at 
him. One of them struck one of his pistols and knocked it from 
his hand. Private Phil Dodd was fortunately near and spurred 
his horse to the general's rescue, and shot the Federal soldier who 
was so close upon him, thus enabling General Forrest to draw 
his other pistol, with which he killed another of the group, who 
was still persistent in his attack upon our commander. General 
Forrest and Captain Boone, of the escort, were both wounded. 
Although the Federals rode through and over us, those that sur- 
vived were beaten back, and we did not leave the field until we 
saw their main column advancing later." f 

* Official Records, vol. xlix. part i. p. 406. 

t Manuscript notes of Lieutenant G. L. Cowan, in possession of the author. 

600 




LIEUTENANT GEORGE L. COWAN 
Forrest's Kscort 



BATTLE AT SELMA 

Captain J. N. Taylor says: " Early on April ist the fighting 
began, and we were at it practically the entire day. The odds 
were heavily against us, but Forrest told us we must hold them 
back until he could concentrate the troops near Selma. He was 
at the front all the time. On one occasion, in a particularly im- 
portant moment of the day, the general called for some volun- 
teers to make a desperate charge, offering to lead them himself. 
Sergeant Parks said : ' General, if you are going into this charge 
the escort will leave, but if you will stay where you are we will 
do whatever you tell us.' The general said, ' All right, boys,' 
and we accomplished the task set out for us. While we were 
doing this a new position was selected just at Bogler's Creek. 
We had scarcely reached thjs line of battle when a cloud 
of dust was seen up the road, and a heavy column of Fed- 
erals at full gallop with drawn sabres glistening in the sunlight 
came towards us. Captain Boone was in command of the escort, 
and in obedience to orders we rode forward along the side of the 
road to meet them and joined in a gallop alongside of them. The 
conflict was now terrible. Every one of us, the general, staff, 
and escort, were surrounded by the Federals, and it seemed as if 
it was a fight every man for himself." * 

Captain John Eaton, now residing in TuUahoma, Tennessee, 
who was present in this engagement, and who shot one of the 
troopers who was attacking Forrest, says : *' It was hot work 
while it lasted. Each of us was armed with a pair of six-shooters, 
and I emptied the twelve chambers of my two army-pistols. I 
do not think any shot was fired at a distance of more than five 
paces from the Federal trooper at whom it was aimed. It seemed 
as if these fellows were bent upon killing the general, whom they 
recognized at once as an officer of high rank. I saw five or six 
slashing away at him with their sabres at one time. He was very 
hard pressed by these men. Several other members of the com- 
mand also rushed to the rescue, while he, with cool head and his 
well-known dexterity with the six-shooter, soon cleared the way 
of danger." f 

In this short encounter the Federals lost twelve killed and forty 



* Manuscript notes of Captain J. N. Taylor, in possession of the author. 
t Manuscript notes in possession of the author. 

60 1 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

wounded. On the Confederate side, General Forrest and Captain 
Boone, commanding the escort, and about a dozen of the troopers 
were wounded, but none fatally. 

Just as this fight was commencing, Upton's division, with Alex- 
ander's brigade in the lead, advanced upon the flank and practi- 
cally in the rear of the Confederates. Striking the militia, these, 
without offering any resistance, ran from the field in great disorder, 
compellingtheentireConfederatelineto retreat precipitately, losing 
three guns and two hundred prisoners. A desperate running fight 
was continued to Plantersville, nineteen miles from Selma. After 
crossing Bogler's Creek, Lieutenant Cowan, of the escort, was 
placed in command of the rear-guard, and was desperately engaged 
in a running fight until near sundown. Forrest was sorely pressed, 
but Cowan and the escort and the rear-guard gathered about him, 
and with desperate valor determined to sacrifice themselves to 
the last man rather than permit their general to be killed (for they 
knew he would never surrender), and thus kept off the pursuers 
until he was safe. 

The rear-guard of the Confederates camped at Plantersville on 
the night of the ist of April, while the Federal advance under 
Winslow bivouacked in front of that place, nineteen miles from 
Selma. The fighting throughout the day had been almost con- 
stant. The Confederates had been driven twenty-four miles since 
morning. 

At daylight on the 2d the Federals advanced towards Selma, 
Long's division in front, closely followed by Upton. General 
Long was directed as he approached the city to cross to the Sum- 
merfield road without exposing his men, and to develop his line 
as soon as he should arrive in front of the works. General Upton 
was directed to move on the Range Line road, sending a portion 
of his troops across to the Burnsville road. 

Lieutenant Rendlebrock, with a battalion of the Fourth United 
States Cavalry, was instructed to continue parallel with the rail- 
road, and to destroy the stations, bridges, and trestle-work as far 
as Burnsville. Without material opposition the Union forces were 
in sight of Selma and in line of battle about four o'clock in the 
afternoon. 

Forrest had arrived in Selma early on the morning of April 2d. 
He immediately reported to General Taylor, who was the depart- 

602 




KKIGAUIEK-GENKKAL FRAMv C. ARMSTRONG 



/ 



BATTLE AT SELMA 

mental commander over him, and received his final instructions 
from this officer, who, as the place was being invested later on in 
the afternoon, escaped by train towards Demopolis. 

Of Forrest, in this crisis, General Richard Taylor says : " For- 
rest fought as if the world depended on his arm. He appeared, 
horse and rider covered with blood, and announced the enemy at 
his heels, and that I must move at once to escape capture. I felt 
anxious for him, but he said he was unhurt and would cut his way 
through, as most of his men had done, whom he had ordered to 
meet him west of the Cahawba. My engine started towards 
Meridian and barely escaped."* 

Being thus placed in command of all the forces in Selma, For- 
rest bent his energies to make the best possible defence of that 
place. It was fortified with a single line of works, which sur- 
rounded the town in horseshoe shape, and terminated upon the 
bank of the Alabama River above and below the city. Within 
this outer crescent there was a second line, as yet unfinished and 
untenable. The most intense excitement prevailed among all 
classes. Every one who could escape had fled to the country, and 
although Forrest in such emergencies was merciless in forcing all 
able-bodied male citizens into the ranks, he found he could not 
muster men enough to man the works. It is said of him that 
early on the morning of the 2d he had issued an order that every 
male citizen, no matter what his calling or position, " must go 
into the works or into the river." It was no time for men to 
hold back, as the cause needed every musket that could be made 
available. Relying chiefly upon Armstrong's brigade, which num- 
bered 1432 1 men, these were stationed to hold the left of the Con- 
federate position. So long was the line which they had to cover, 
that there was an interval of from six to ten feet between the men 
as they stood behind the works. Roddey's men were placed on 
the extreme Confederate right, while the militia filled in the cen- 
tre between these two commands. Rearward of the militia For- 
rest was stationed with his escort and the Kentuckians. 

Upon approaching Selma on the afternoon of the 2d of April, 
General Wilson, with his division commanders, made a careful 

* Destruction and Reconstruction, by Lieutenant-General Richard Taylor, 
t War Office Records. 

603 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

reconnaissance of the breastworks, and was pleased to discover 
that the sketch of the fortifications which an English engineer, 
who had been employed in the construction of these defences, 
had given him was surprisingly accurate. In order to be safe 
from any advance of Jackson or Chalmers upon his right and 
rear, Long posted one regiment in this direction to protect the 
led horses and the pack - train, and formed the rest of his 
division, about forty - five hundred strong, across the Summer- 
field road. His line of battle was entirely concealed from the 
Confederates by a low intervening ridge. His front line contained 
fifteen hundred men, and the remainder of his troops followed in 
close column and in supporting distance. Upton's division was 
also carried rapidly into position, all dismounted, except Alex- 
ander's brigade. As Long was advancing to the attack, he was 
informed that the regiment left in the rear had been assailed 
by the advance of Chalmers's division. Appreciating that if he 
halted with his portion of the line at this juncture the assault 
might fail, with utter disregard of the prearranged plan, and with 
great boldness. Long, in person, led a desperate charge of his gal- 
lant troops upon that portion of the Confederate works defended 
by Armstrong. With well - attested courage and stubbornness 
Armstrong stood his ground, for the brunt of the Federal attack 
fell upon his position. 

General Boynton says : " In less time than it takes to tell it, 
over three hundred of Long's men were killed and wounded. 
Long himself was stricken down, together with two of his three 
brigade commanders and four colonels." * At the same time Up- 
ton moved forward with his division, and, striking that part of the 
Confederate line which was guarded by the militia, these troops 
again fled the field, leaving a gap through which the Union sol- 
diers swarmed, Forrest, seeing these men give way, rushed into 
the break in his line and endeavored to stem the tide of disaster 
until Roddey could be moved over to unite with Armstrong. In 
overwhelming and irresistible force the Federals swept him back, 
however, before the new alignment could be made, forcing Arm- 
strong and Roddey to withdraw their troops, with considerable 
loss, to a second or interior line. Here again further resistance 

* Life of General George H. Thomas, 
604 



WITH ARMSTRONG, ESCAPES CAPTURE 

was made, until Wilson's force had not only vigorously assailed 
their second position from the front, but had overlapped them on 
the flank and was well in their rear. Seeing further resistance now 
hopeless, Forrest ordered the dismounted men to secure their horses 
and escape as best they could. Armstrong, still holding his men 
together, and conspicuous for his personal daring and cool head, 
covered the stampede into and through the city, and was by all 
odds the hero of the day. Forrest, with his escort and a con- 
siderable number of men from various detachments who rallied 
about him, escaped on the road towards Burnsville ; not, however, 
without collision with the enemy, as he was moving northward 
now upon the road upon which Wilson's troops had advanced. 
He was again compelled to fight his way through, and it was here 
his last personal encounter of the war took place, in which he slew 
a Federal cavalryman who with rashness had endeavored to cut 
him down. 

This was the thirtieth enemy that the personal prowess of 
General Forrest had placed liors de combat in hand-to-hand en- 
counter since his first engagement at Sacramento in 1861. He 
closed his fighting career at Selma, having had twenty-nine horses 
shot under him during the war.* 

* In the engagement at Sacramento, Kentucky, in 1861, Forrest was un- 
horsed in a running hand-to-hand fight. His horse went down after col- 
liding with that of a Union officer with whom he was engaged in personal 
combat, but it is not known whether the general's horse was killed or 
wounded. At the first battle of Fort Donelson he had two horses killed 
under him, and one of these received seven bullet wounds before it fell. 
The second horse was wounded, but not seriously enough to compel Forrest 
to dismount. Later in the action a cannon-ball passed through the belly of 
the animal, just behind Forrest's leg. killing the horse instantly. On Tues- 
day, April 8, 1862, at Monterey, on the retreat from Shiloh, his horse was 
mortally shot in the charge which he led, and in which he was severely 
wounded in the hip. The animal lived long enough to bear his rider safely 
out of this great danger, and then fell to the earth from loss of blood. At 
Munfordsville, Kentucky, during the Perryville campaign, Forrest was again 
unhorsed, he having his shoulder dislocated by the accident. In the second 
engagement at Dover, in 1863, Forrest had two horses killed under him. At 
Thompson's station, " Roderick," one of his famous war-horses, was killed; 
and in the pursuit of Streight, in April and May of that same year, he had 
three horses shot. At Chickamauga " Highlander " was killed, and at Ross- 
ville, the day after the battle of Chickamauga, his horse was shot through 

605 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

Armstrong, also hurrying out of Selma with his sturdy fighters 
around him, found the Federals formed across his path. Without 
hesitation he placed himself at the head of his men and cut his 
way through with little loss. A considerable number of the Con- 
federates, being unable to escape, concealed themselves in the 
houses of citizens, a good many of them remaining hid away until 
the Federals left Selma, when they came out of their hiding-places 
and escaped. 

It was now pitch-dark, and as Forrest and his escort were 
marching along their attention was attracted by the screams of 
women coming from the direction of a residence a short dis- 
tance from the highway. He ordered a detachment to proceed 
at a gallop and to investigate the cause of the disturbance. 
As the Confederates surrounded the house, then in posses- 
sion of the pillagers, several men wearing the Federal uniform 
ran out and endeavored to escape, but were all killed or capt- 
ured.* 

General Wilson had not been unmindful of his obligations as a 
commander to protect the lives and property of the citizens of 
the section through which his troops were marching. He had 
issued orders intended to prevent this disgraceful practice, but 
without the desired result, as the following "Special Field Order" 
will show : 



the neck while he was leading the charge with a detachment of Armstrong's 
brigade. The blood spurted out, and Forrest, realizing that the horse would 
bleed to death before he could complete the attack unless the hemorrhage 
was stopped, leaned forward and thrust his finger into the wound, thus con- 
trolling the hemorrhage. The animal bore his rider safely through the fight, 
when, his rider dismounting, the hemorrhage recurred and the horse soon 
expired. At Okolona, Mississippi, the horse he was riding was several times 
wounded and fell dead. A second horse was killed here, and Forrest con- 
tinued the fight and pursuit on "King Philip," a large dapple-gray animal, 
as sluggish as a dray-horse until he heard firing, and then he was all excite- 
ment. "King Philip" was wounded at Okolona, and several times after 
that, but survived and was with Forrest at the surrender in 1865. At Fort 
Pillow two horses were killed under Forrest and a third wounded. At 
Plantersville his horse was wounded, but not mortally. At Selma, Alabama, 
another horse was shot. 

* Manuscripts of Lieutenant George L. Cowan, in possession of the au- 
thor. 

606 




LIEUTENANT JOHN EATON 
Forrest's Escort 



CONFEDERATES CAPTURE A FEDERAL OUTPOST 

"[Special Field Orders. No. 20.] 

"Headquarters Cavalry Corps, 
"Military Division of the Mississippi, 

" Colonel Harrison's House, April 11, 1865. 
"The attention of division commanders is called to orders heretofore 
published in regard to pillaging. The evil has increased to such an extent 
as to call for the most prompt and decided measures, and all officers and 
men are enjoined to aid in suppressing a practice dishonorable and unbe- 
coming a Christian soldiery. Hereafter no enlisted man, servant, or em- 
ploye belonging to the cavalry corps will be allowed to enter a house under 
any pretence whatever, except under the direction of a commissioned offi- 
cer, and then only for the purpose of obtaining provisions or information. 
Any violation of this order may be punished by death, or any other punish- 
ment that division commanders may direct. Commanding officers are or- 
dered to use every possible effort to arrest pillagers and robbers, and provost 
marshals will punish with the utmost severity. It is not the intention of 
this order to prevent the troops from taking provisions or forage. Every 
pound of provisions or forage will be taken from the inhabitants of the 
country passed over by the troops before a single man or animal of the 
corrmand shall sufTer; but all such supplies must be taken in a proper man- 
ner. This order to be read to every regiment of the command every day 
until it is thoroughly understood. 

" By command of Brevet Major-General Wilson : 

" E. B. Beaumont, 

" Major and Assistant Adjutant-General." 

As the advance-guard of the escort moved along the narrow 
road in the darkness they came unexpectedly upon a Federal out- 
post near the residence of Mr. M. Godwin, and the pickets, sup- 
posing the troops approaching from the direction of Selma be- 
longed to Wilson's command, did not realize that Forrest's men 
were upon them until the latter had made them prisoners. Lieu- 
tenant George L. Cowan, at this time in command of Forrest's es- 
cort, having learned from the captured troopers that they belonged 
to a scouting detachment from the Fourth United States Regulars, 
which was then encamped upon the premises of Mr. Godwin, de- 
termined to attempt their capture. As General Forrest started 
forward with the detail who were to make the attack, Lieutenant 
Cowan, Acting Lieutenant John Eaton, and the private soldiers 
as well, protested against this unnecessary exposure on the part of 
the general, and persuaded him to remain with the horse-holders. 

Approaching the premises cautiously, a number of the Federals 

607 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

were seen about their camp-fires in the horse-lot, a short distance 
from the dwelling-house. Lieutenant Cowan despatched several 
of his men to surround the residence, while a second detachment 
was sent on a detour to approach the horse-lot from a different 
direction from the main body of the Confederates, which, having 
waited until the details had time to reach the positions designated, 
now advanced with a rush upon the regulars. They did not, how- 
ever, reach the fence around the enclosure before the Federals, 
by this time aroused, fired a volley at their assailants. Lieutenant 
Cowan was wounded by this fire. In the brief and sanguinary 
encounter which ensued, this squad of hard-fighting cavalrymen 
sustained their well-earned reputation for desperate courage by 
resisting to the last the onslaught of Forrest's men. Finally, 
those who survived, realizing that they were about to be sur- 
rounded, as the second detachment of Confederates now opened 
upon them from another direction, leaped over the fence and made 
their escape. Two of those who escaped were captured on the 
following morning by the Confederates several miles from the 
scene of the encounter. Mr. M. Godwin, who was, at the time 
of this attack, at the house of a friend, says : " I went home with 
Dr. Mixson, and about daylight two Union soldiers came from 
my house bareheaded and with no shoes on. They took Mr. 
Mixson's shoes from him and started away, when two Confeder- 
ate soldiers came along and captured them."* 

When the firing began at the horse-lot the two ofificers and an 
orderly, who had ensconced themselves in Mr. Godwin's residence, 
ran out in the hope of escaping, but in the attempt were shot. 
One of the officers was instantly killed ; the other was mortally 
wounded, and died on the following day. 

In the Federal ofificial reports of this campaign it is stated that 
" Forrest, retreating from Selma, came across a party of Federals 
asleep in a neighboring field, and charged on them, and, refusing 
to listen to their cries for surrender, killed or wounded the entire 
party, numbering twenty-five men."f 

In the Life of General George H. T/iomas,X in referring to this 

* Sworn statement of Mr. M. Godwin, in possession of the author. 
+ Official Records, vol. xlix. part i. p. 406. 
I By Donn Piatt and H. V. Boynton, p. 614. 

608 



UNSOLDIERLY CONDUCT DISPROVEN 

incident, this statement occurs : " Forrest fell upon the party with 
the ferocity of a wild Indian, and killed every m^n of it." 

Such exaggerated and false statements are in line with the 
equally unjust and untruthful charges of inhuman and unsoldierly 
conduct made against General Forrest at Fort Pillow. He took 
no part whatever in this attack, but remained with the horse-hold- 
ers, who were four hundred yards from the scene. The firing had 
ceased before he came upon the premises. 

It is the testimony of the Confederate oflficers who took part in 
this affair that the Union troops resisted to the last, and it is well 
known that the Fourth Regulars were among the most desperate 
fighters in the National army. 

Lieutenant George L. Cowan, residing (in 1898) in Franklin, Ten- 
nessee, in response to a letter from the author, states : " In this 
attack the Federals fired the first shot, the scar from which I bear 
to this day. They made a strong fight, and at one time drove us 
back, when a timely charge in their rear by a small squad detached 
from our right saved us the victory. Not a single man was killed 
after he surrendered, and any statements to this effect are wholly 
untrue." 

Mr. John Eaton, of Tullahoma, Tennessee, who was acting lieu- 
tenant and took part in this engagement, in an aflfidavit sustains 
in every particular the statements made by Lieutenant Cowan 
that General Forrest was not present on this occasion, that the 
Federals fought desperately, and that no man was shot or mal- 
treated after he surrendered. 

Dr. A. W. Jones, a resident (in 1899) of Selma, Alabama, was 
also present, and in a written statement says that General Forrest 
remained with him and others who were holding the horses, four 
hundred yards distant from the Godwin premises.* 

Dr. J. B. Cowan, residing (in 1899) at Tullahoma, Tennessee, then 
chief surgeon of Forrest's cavalry, was also with him at the time, 
and he sustains the foregoing statements.f 

In Mr. M. Godwin's affidavit he states that, although he had 
nothing whatever to do with this attack of the Confederates upon 
the Union troops encamped on his premises, being several miles 

* Manuscript of Dr. A. W. Jones, in possession of the author, 
f Statement of Dr. J. B. Cowan, in possession of the author. 
2 Q 609 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

away when the attack took place, his house was burned and his 
family rendered homeless by the Federals. 

Early on the morning of April 3d Forrest and his escort ar- 
rived at Plantersville, where he captured the Federal hospital and 
a considerable number of wounded in charge of Dr. McGraw, of 
General Wilson's staff. The consideration invariably shown by 
the Confederate leader for the Union troops, wounded or un- 
wounded, who fell into his hands was shown here, and is attested 
by General Wilson in an order dated April 8, 1865 : " Out of the 
stock . . . select twenty - five horses to be turned over to the 
Confederate surgeons to replace those taken from them. General 
Forrest allowed our surgeons to retain their horses, and this is a 
reciprocal act of courtesy."* 

From Plantersville Forrest proceeded to Marion, Alabama, 
where he arrived on the morning of the 4th, and found here Jack- 
son's division, Starke's brigade, of Chalmers's division, and the en- 
tire train and artillery. 

Meanwhile General Wilson had turned eastward towards Mont- 
gomery, which without resistance fell into his hands. From thence 
he proceeded by rapid marches to Columbus, West Point, and 
finally to Macon, Georgia, where he arrived in May, to find that 
the armies of Lee and Johnston had surrendered, and that the war 
was over. On the 13th of April he had notified General Thomas 
from Montgomery that there was no force to resist him, and that 
supplies were sufficiently abundant to subsist his command. He 
was under the impression that Forrest would follow him. 

This the Confederate commander did not do. He realized that it 
would be a needless sacrifice of his men to pursue and harass the rear 
of Wilson's column with nothing to be gained. Moreover, his du- 
ties were confined to the department over which he was in com- 
mand, and when Wilson left the State of Alabama he entered an- 
other of the Confederate departments. Forrest, after his defeat at 
Selma, had determined to concentrate his scattered forces in the 
vicinity of Marion, where he remained for about ten days, and on 
the 15th of April he established his headquarters at Gainesville, in 
that State. 

General Lee had surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia 

* Official Records, vol. xlix. part ii. p. 272. 
610 



HEARS OF LEE'S SURRENDER 

at Appomattox on the 9th of April, and rumors of this great dis- 
aster had already reached the ears of the troops in Forrest's de- 
partment, causing consternation and great depression among the 
men, who, however, still remained loyal to their colors. As late 
as the 25th of April, Forrest issued an address to his soldiers, in 
which he stated that he did not believe General Lee had sur- 
rendered, and urged them to remain true to the cause they had 
espoused. He says : " It is the duty of every man to stand firm 
at his post and true to his colors. Your past services, your gal- 
lant and heroic conduct on many victorious fields, forbid the 
thought that you will ever ground your arms except with honor. 
Duty to your country, to yourselves, and the gallant dead who 
have fallen in this great struggle for liberty and independence de- 
mand that every man should continue to do his whole duty. 
With undiminished confidence in your courage and fortitude, and 
knowing you will not disregard the claims of honor, patriot- 
ism, and manhood, and those of the women and children of the 
country, so long defended by your strong arms and willing hearts, 
your commander announces his determination to stand by you, 
stay with you, and lead you to the end. A few more days will de- 
termine the truth or falsity of all the reports now in circulation. In 
the meantime let those who are now absent from their commands, 
for the purpose of mounting themselves or otherwise, return with- 
out delay. Be firm and unwavering, discharge promptly and faith- 
fully every duty devolving upon you. Preserve untarnished the 
reputation you have so nobly won, and leave results to Him who 
in wisdom controls and governs all things." 

Five days later he was notified by General Richard Taylor that 
he had entered into an agreement with General Canby, of the 
United States Army, for the cessation of hostilities, and on the 
6th of May an ofificial circular was issued to the troops announc- 
ing the surrender of Lee's army on the 9th of April, and, later, 
that of General Johnston. 

About this time it was reported to General Thomas that For- 
rest did not intend to surrender, no matter what other command- 
ers might do ; that he would lead his command across the Missis- 
sippi to Texas and Mexico, marching by way of Memphis, which 
city he proposed to capture. Thomas attached such credence 
to this rumor that on the 2d of May he telegraphed to General 

611 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

Hatch, at Eastport, Mississippi, as follows : " Send under a flag 
of truce a summons to Forrest to surrender upon the terms given 
by General Grant to Generals Lee and Johnston. Inform him of 
the rumors which have reached you, and that you are prepared 
for him, and if he attempts such a reckless and bloodthirsty ad- 
venture he will be treated thereafter as an outlaw, and the States 
of Mississippi and Alabama will be so destroyed that they will 
not recover for fifty years." 

Thomas evidently did not understand the character of Forrest, 
who had no intention of sacrificing the life of a single man after 
he had been ordered by his superior ofificer to disband his troops. 
It was his purpose to be as earnest and faithful in the effort to 
restore kindly feeling between the divided sections, and to recon- 
cile his soldiers and friends among the non-combatants of the 
South to the failure of the struggle to establish an independent 
confederation of the slave-holding States, as he had been inde- 
fatigable and loyal to the cause now lost forever. 

It required all of Forrest's tact and influence with his troops to 
persuade them to the submission which he accepted. It is nar- 
rated in the History of the Seventh Tennessee Cavalry,'^ one of the 
commands disbanded at Gainesville, that when the determination 
of the commander was made known to the men they were over- 
whelmed with amazement and grief. They gathered in groups to 
talk over the situation, while some of them wept like children. 
Many said they would never surrender as long as they had their 
guns and horses ; they proposed to General Forrest to lead them 
to the trans-Mississippi Department, and to continue the struggle 
for independence ; " but General Forrest said no, what could not 
be accomplished here could never be done in the thinly settled 
West." They finally realized, under the calm and convincing rea- 
soning of their leader, the hopelessness of the fight, and with grim 
determination turned their faces homeward to meet an uncertain 
future. " The old bullet-torn flag, whose blue cross had been tri- 
umphantly borne aloft for years at the cost of so much blood and 
valor they would never part with. On the eve of surrender, as 
the shadows of night fell, the men reverently gathered around the 
staff in front of regimental headquarters, and, cutting the silk into 

* By J. P. Young. 
612 



HIS FAREWELL ADDRESS 

fragments, each soldier carried away with him a bit of the cov- 
eted treasure. The flag had been the gift of a young lady of 
Aberdeen, Mississippi, made from her bridal-dress, and had never 
for an instant been abandoned by the men of the Seventh Ten- 
nessee Cavalry after it was committed to their guardianship." 
(^ On the 9th of May, 1865, General Forrest took his farewell of 
these gallant men, in an address probably not excelled in the litera- 
ture of the Civil War. 



* 



[Circular. ] 

" Headquarters Forrest's Cavalry Corps, 
"Gainesville, Alabama, May g, 1865. 

"Soldiers, — By an agreement made between Lieutenant-General Taylor, 
commanding the Department of Alabama, Mississippi, and East Louisiana, 
and Major-General Canby, commanding United States forces, the troops of 
this department have been surrendered. I do not think it proper or neces- 
sary at this time to refer to the causes which have reduced us to this ex- 
tremity, nor is it now a matter of material consequence as to how such re- 
sults were brought about. That we are beaten is a self-evident fact, and any 
further resistance on our part would be justly regarded as the very height of 
folly and rashness. The armies of Generals Lee and Johnston having sur- 
rendered, you are the last of all the troops of the Confederate States Army 
east of the Mississippi River to lay down your arms. The cause for which 
you have so long and manfully struggled, and for which you have braved 
dangers, endured privations and sufferings, and made so many sacrifices, 
is to-day hopeless. The government which we sought to establish and 
perpetuate is at an end. Reason dictates and humanity demands that no 
more blood be shed. Fully realizing and feeling that such is the case, 
it is your duty and mine to lay down our arms, submit to the ' powers 
that be,' and to aid in restoring peace and establishing law and order 
throughout the land. The terms upon which you were surrendered are 
favorable, and should be satisfactory and acceptable to all. They mani- 
fest a spirit of magnanimity and liberality on the part of the Federal au- 
thorities which should be met on our part by a faithful compliance with all 
the stipulations and conditions therein expressed. As your commander, I 
sincerely hope that every officer and soldier of my command will cheerfully 
obey the orders given, and carry out in good faith all the terms of the cartel. 

"Those who neglect the terms and refuse to be paroled may assuredly ex- 
pect when arrested to be sent North and imprisoned. Let those who are 
absent from their commands, from whatever cause, report at once to this 
place, or to Jackson, Mississippi, or, if too remote from either, to the nearest 
United States post or garrison, for parole. Civil war, such as you have just 
passed through, naturally engenders feelings of animosity, hatred, and re- 
venge. It is our duty to divest ourselves of all such feelings, and, so far as it is 

613 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

in our power to do so, to cultivate friendly feelings towards those with whom 
we have so long contested and heretofore so widely but honestly differed. 
Neighborhood feuds, personal animosities, and private differences should be 
blotted out, and when you return home a manly, straightforward course of 
conduct will secure the respect even of your enemies. Whatever your re- 
sponsibilities may be to government, to society, or to individuals, meet 
them like men. The attempt made to establish a separate and independent 
confederation has failed, but the consciousness of having done your duty 
faithfully and to the end will in some measure repay for the hardships you 
have undergone. In bidding you farewell, rest assured that you carry with 
you my best wishes for your future welfare and happiness. Without in any 
way referring to the merits of the cause in which we have been engaged, 
your courage and determination, as exhibited on many hard-fought fields, 
has elicited the respect and admiration of friend and foe. And I now 
cheerfully and gratefully acknowledge my indebtedness to the officers and 
men of my command, whose zeal, fidelity, and unflinching bravery have been 
the great source of my past success in arms. I have never on the field of 
battle sent you where I was unwilling to go myself, nor would I now advise 
you to a course which I felt myself unwilling to pursue. You have been 
good soldiers, you can be good citizens. Obey the laws, preserve your honor, 
and the government to which you have surrendered can afford to be and 
will be magnanimous. 

"N. B. Forrest, Lieutenant-General." i| 

Admirers and partisans of General Forrest bemoan the fact 
that his last campaign was not attended with the brilliant success 
which characterized his almost unbroken series of victories. It 
should be borne in mind that the fight against General Wilson 
was made under circumstances which placed the Confederate 
leader at great disadvantage. His command was greatly inferior 
in numbers to that of his able adversary, and much of it was com- 
posed of a material upon which he could not with confidence rely. 
General Grant, in his Memoirs, in commenting upon the relative 
strength and efificiency of these contending forces, says : " Wilson 
moved out with full twelve thousand men, well equipped and 
well armed. He was an energetic officer and accomplished his 
work rapidly. Forrest was in his front, but with neither his old- 
time army nor his old-time prestige. He now had principally 
conscripts. His conscripts were usually old men and boys. He 
had a few thousand regular cavalry left, but not enough to even 
retard materially the progress of Wilson's cavalry." 

614 



CHAPTER XXII 

AFTER THE WAR 

After the Surrender at Gainesville, Forrest Starts for His Home in Memphis — The 
Train Derailed near Meridian — Judge C. B. Kilgore Relates that Forrest at once 
Took Charge of the Train and Supervised the Work of Replacing the Cars upon the 
Rails — Arrest of Admiral Semmes — Rumors that Forrest Is Also to Be Arrested — 
General Maury and Colonel Sam Tate Send to Forrest at His Plantation a Letter 
of Credit, and Advise Him to Leave at once for Europe — He Declines to Accept 
Either the Letter of Credit or the Advice : " This Is My Country" — Engages in 
Railroad Building — Altercation with a Contractor, Who Challenges Him — Forrest 
Accepts the Challenge and Selects Colt's " Navy-sixes" at Ten Paces — Mr. Charles 
E. Waller's Statement — Forrest Before the Committee of Congress on the Kuklux 
Organization — Fails in His Railroad Enterprises — His Income Greatly Diminished, 
He Still Contributes to the Support of the Widows and Orphans of His Old Com- 
mand — Address at the Reunion of the Seventh Tennessee Cavalry — In Failing 
Health — General Wheeler's Description of Forrest's Appearance at this Time — 
Interview with Senator John T. Morgan at Hurricane Springs — Death of the Great 
Soldier on October 29, 1877 — Impressive Burial Ceremonies at Elmwood Cemetery, 
in Memphis. 

GENERAL FORREST remained at Gainesville for several 
days after the troops had surrendered, giving his personal 
attention to their disbandment and departure. He missed 
no opportunity to impress upon them not only the propriety, but 
the necessity of going directly to their homes and abandoning all 
idea of further resistance to the Federal government. He then 
started by rail for his own home near Memphis. In journeying 
towards Jackson, Mississippi, the cars were greatly overcrowded 
with soldiers and refugees making their way homeward. The 
railroads were in such wretched condition that progress was not 
only slow but dangerous. The late Congressman C. B. Kilgore 
happened to be a passenger in the same coach with General For- 
rest. On one occasion, although moving slowly, the rails spread, 
and the train came to a halt with the wheels off the track. He 
says that Forrest naturally took command and gave directions 
about everything. " He ordered every one of us out of the cars, 

61S 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

and soon had us at work with levers placed in position to lift 
the trucks and coach so that the displaced rails could be pushed 
back in proper line. Our first effort was not successful, and some 
one said to Forrest : ' General, there are still some men in the car, 
and if they would get out we could lift it more readily.' To think 
that his first command to vacate the cars had not been obeyed 
was enough to kindle the ire of this irascible ruler of men, and 
springing on to the steps and platform he shouted out : ' If you 
damned rascals don't get out of here and help get this car on the 
track I will throw every one of you through the windows.' " Mr. 
Kilgore says : " At this the laggards in rapid fashion tumbled out 
at the other end of the coach, with Forrest following. He soon 
had them swinging on the lever, and in a few minutes the car was 
in the air, the trucks adjusted to the rails, and we were again on 
our way. It seemed under all conditions he was the man for the 
occasion."* 

Arriving at his plantation, citizen Forrest applied himself most 
diligently to the work of saving what he could from the wreck and 
ruin his property had suffered. A number of his old slaves (some 
of whom he had himself made free)t proved their affection and 
devotion to him by returning to work again upon the old planta- 
tion. While thus engaged, within a few weeks after the surrender, 
an incident occurred which shows how fully he had accepted the 
terms of his surrender. Admiral Semmes had been arrested in 
Mobile and taken to New Orleans for imprisonment and trial. 
It was claimed that this was a violation of the terms of surrender 
which Admiral Semmes had accepted. It so happened that Gen- 
eral Dabney H. Maury was a passenger upon the steamer that 
conveyed the admiral from Mobile to New Orleans. As he was 
walking up and down the deck, Semmes, who was in charge of an 
ofificer and a guard of marines, said to him : " General, they have 
arrested me ; they are going to disregard the paroles of all of us." 
This greatly excited the apprehensions of Maury in regard to 
Forrest, for the reason that he had noticed the Northern papers 
had indicated him as a proper object of Federal vengeance. With 

* Manuscripts of Judge C. B. Kilgore, in possession of the author. 

t The distinguished author, Mr. George W. Cable, who was a Confeder- 
ate soldier, was at one time detailed as secretary to General Forrest, and 
drew up the papers of manumission which he issued to his slaves. 

6i6 



FEARS FOR HIS ARREST 

this in mind, General Maury, who was affectionately attached to 
Forrest, hurried to Memphis in order to urge him to leave the 
country. Forrest was not in Memphis at the time, and Maury 
was told that he was on his plantation at work. He immediately 
called on Colonel Sam Tate and informed him of Semmes's ar- 
rest and imprisonment in disregard of his parole, telling him that 
he apprehended Forrest would suffer a similar annoyance. Colo- 
nel Tate asked Maury to write Forrest at once what had occurred, 
and to say to him that a letter of credit would be forwarded to 
him, which would enable him to leave the country and remain in 
Europe until it was safe to return. General Maury left Memphis 
on the following day, and did not for some time know of Forrest's 
action in the matter. Colonel Tate informed him later that 
Forrest had returned the letter of credit, thanking his generous 
friends for their thoughtfulness. His acknowledgment closed as 
follows: "This is my country. I am hard at work upon my plan- 
tation, and carefully observing the obligations of my parole. If 
the Federal government does not regard it they will be sorry. I 
shall not go away." 

Forrest immediately repaired to Memphis, called in person upon 
the Federal commander there, stating that he had come to report 
and to find out what the government was going to do with him. 
He said : " I understand that Admiral Semmes's parole has been 
disregarded, and that I am to be arrested." The commanding 
officer assured him that there was no thought of any such action. 

For the two or three years immediately following the close of 
the war Forrest continued to give his personal attention to the 
working of his plantations, and as soon as these were again made 
productive and placed in such condition that they could be car- 
ried on successfully without his personal supervision, he engaged 
in the larger enterprise of constructing a railroad from Selma, 
Alabama, to the Mississippi River. To this undertaking he de- 
voted his entire energies for a period of about three years. The 
right of way was secured, securities issued, contracts made, and 
the work was being pushed with rapidity and success, when, as a 
result of the great financial crisis which swept over the United 
States at that period, this, with hundreds of other undertakings 
of a public nature, was swept away in the general wreck and ruin. 
While engaged in the construction of this road he became a party 

617 



LIFE OFGENERAL N. B. FORREST 

to a controversy with one of his contractors, an honorable and 
courageous man by the name of Shepherd. From reports For- 
rest had received he had been led to believe that this contractor 
had not complied satisfactorily with the requirements of his work, 
and when they met, without waiting for any explanation, Forrest, 
who at the time happened to be in bad humor, spoke abusively 
to his employ^. This gentleman, stung by the injustice of the at- 
tack upon him, resented it so bitterly that he challenged Forrest 
to mortal combat. In the heat and violence of the moment For- 
rest accepted the challenge, selecting his favorite weapon, " navy- 
sixes," at a distance of ten paces, to fire at the word, and advance 
and continue firing until one or the other was killed. The details 
of this affair were obtained from Mr. Charles E. Waller, a reliable 
citizen of Greensborough, Alabama, who was a contractor on the 
road at the same time and was well acquainted with both parties 
to the quarrel. While a great admirer of Forrest, and still de- 
voted to his memory, Mr. Waller says that the general was ex- 
ceedingly overbearing and unnecessarily severe in his denuncia- 
tion of Colonel Shepherd. The duel was to take place at sunrise 
the next morning. Forrest spent the night with Mr. Waller, oc- 
cupying the same room with this gentleman. " I noticed that 
Forrest was restless throughout the night, for with the knowledge 
of the impending duel I was unable to sleep. About daylight I 
looked across the room and saw the general sitting upon the side 
of his bed, and inquired of him why he was restless. He replied: 
* I haven't slept for thinking about the trouble with Shepherd. 
I feel sure I can kill him, and if I do I will never forgive myself. 
I am convinced that he was right in resenting the way I talked to 
him. I am in the wrong, and I do not feel satisfied about it.* " 
Mr. Waller replied: "General Forrest, your courage has never 
been questioned. I have no reputation of being a brave man, 
but under the circumstances I should feel it to be my duty to 
apologize to Colonel Shepherd and openly tell him that I was in 
the wrong." The general said : " You are right ; I will do it." 
They immediately got up, dressed themselves, and he and Forrest 
went directly to Shepherd's quarters, where they found him sur- 
rounded by a group of friends. Forrest walked directly to him, 
offered his hand, and said: "Colonel,! am in the wrong in this 
affair and I have come to say so." Colonel Shepherd expressed 

6i8 



THE KUKLUX ORGANIZATION 

himself as being very glad that General Forrest had taken this 
view of it, and with this the matter ended. 

In 1871-72 General Forrest was summoned before the commit- 
tee of Congress appointed to inquire into the condition of affairs in 
the late insurrectionary States* in regard to the formation of the 
Kuklux organization. The committee stated that perhaps Gen- 
erals Forrest and John B. Gordon knew more about the forma- 
tion of this secret society than any others. Forrest testified that 
while he did not take an active part in the organization of the 
Kuklux, he knew that it was an association of citizens in his State 
(Tennessee) for self-protection. There was a great, widespread, 
and deep feeling of insecurity felt by those who had sympathized 
with the South in the war, as a result of Governor Brownlow's 
calling out the militia, and his proclamation they had interpreted 
as a license on the part of the State troops, without fear of pun- 
ishment, to commit any kind of depredation against those lately 
in arms against the Union. Forrest stated that he had advised 
against all manner of violence on the part of the Southern people, 
and when the Loyal Leagues, for fear of the Kuklux, began to 
disband, he urged the disbanding of the other society. 

The impression which Forrest made on this committee may 
be inferred from their report : " The statements of these gen- 
tlemen (Forrest and Gordon) are full and explicit. . . . The evi- 
dence fully sustains them, and it is only necessary to turn to the 
official documents of Tennessee to show that all Forrest said 
about the alarm which prevailed during the administration of Gov- 
ernor Brownlow was strictly true. No State was ever reduced 
to such humiliation and degradation as that unhappy common- 
wealth during the years Brownlow ruled over her." 

After the failure of his railroad enterprises, Forrest returned to 
his plantation, and continued at work to support not only those 
immediately dependent upon him, and to whom he was bound 
by natural ties, but to give largely of his greatly diminished in- 
come to the support of the wounded and helpless soldiers of his 
command, and the widows and orphans of others who had fallen 
while fighting under his flag. To the day of his death he con- 

* Reportsof Committees, House of Representatives, Second Session, Forty- 
second Congress, pp. 7-449- 

619 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

tinued to share his income with these helpless people, and after 
he was dead his noble wife carried out his wishes in this direction, 
until she had practically given away in charity the entire fortune 
the general had left. 

On September 21, 1876, at a reunion of the Seventh Tennessee 
Cavalry, in one of the companies of which he had volunteered as 
a private soldier in June of 1861, he was called upon to address 
his old comrades in arms, and delivered the following speech, 
which is taken from the Evening Ledger of that period : 

" Soldiers of the Seventh Tennessee Cavalry, Ladies and Gen- 
tlemen, — I name the soldiers first, because I love them best. I am ex- 
tremely pleased to meet you here to-day. I love the gallant men with 
whom I was so intimately connected during the late war. You can readily 
realize what must pass through a commander's mind when called upon to 
meet in reunion the brave spirits who through four years of war and blood- 
shed fought fearlessly for a cause that they thought right, and who even 
when they foresaw, as we all did, that the war must soon close in disaster, and 
that we must all surrender, yet did not quail, but marched to victory in many 
battles, and fought as boldly and persistently in their last battles as they did 
in their first. Nor do I forget those many gallant spirits who sleep coldly 
in death upon the many bloody battle-fields of the late war. I love them too, 
and honor their memory. I have often been called to the side, on the bat- 
tle-field, of those who have been struck down, and they would put their 
arms around my neck, draw me down to them and kiss me, and say : ' Gen- 
eral, I have fought my last battle, and will soon be gone. I want you to re- 
member my wife and children and take care of them.' Comrades, I have 
remembered their wives and little ones, and have taken care of them, and I 
want every one of you to remember them too, and join with me in the labor 
of love. 

" Comrades, through the years of bloodshed and many marches you were 
tried and true soldiers. So through the years of peace you have been good 
citizens, and now that we are again united under the old flag, I love it as I 
did in the days of my youth, and I feel sure that you love it also. Yes, I 
love and honor that old flag as much as do those who followed it on the 
other side ; and I am sure that I but express your feelings when I say that 
should occasion offer and our country demand our services, you would as 
eagerly follow my lead to battle under that proud banner as ever you fol- 
lowed me in our late great war. It has been thought by some that our social 
reunions were wrong, and that they would be heralded to the North as an 
evidence that we were again ready to break out into civil war. But I think 
that they are right and proper, and we will show our countrymen by our con- 
duct and dignity that brave soldiers are always good citizens and law-abiding 
and loyal people. Soldiers, I was afraid that I could not be with you to-day, 

620 



HIS FAILING HEALTH 

but I could not bear the thought of not meeting with you, and I will always 
try to meet with you in the future. I hope that you will continue to meet 
from year to year, and bring your wives and children with you, and let them 
and the children who may come after them enjoy with you the pleasure of 
your reunions." 

Forrest never made a promise to the men who had followed 
his fortunes through the war which he did not if possible fulfil, 
but this engagement to meet with them again was cancelled by 
the decree of fate. It was clear to the veterans who gathered 
once more around their idolized chieftain that he was no longer 
the strong and grim warrior who, with head erect and haughty 
mien, towering above all, was wont to lead them in the fierce 
charge upon the foe. There were the same clear eyes of blue, 
but they were not now afire with the look of anger or defiance 
which flashed from them amid the stirring scenes of combat. 
They seemed to be looking, not through you, with the searching 
scrutiny of those days of turmoil when the character of every man 
was closely studied, but above and beyond. Their glance sug- 
gested not the overpowering ray of the mid-day sun as heretofore, 
but the soft and restful twilight which ushers in the darkness. 
The broad and bony shoulders were bent forward now as if at last 
they had grown weary of carrying the massive head above them. 
The face was pale and thin, and although the clear-cut lines were 
still strongly accentuated, there was left now nothing of that fierce- 
ness of expression which in the stress and tension of battle meant 
death to the enemy who would not yield, and as much to his own 
men who did not stand fully up to the measure of their duty. 

General Wheeler, who saw Forrest about this time, says : " It 
so happened that I had not seen General Forrest for several years 
until a few months before his death, and I could but notice the 
startling change which had come over him. He was greatly 
emaciated, as a result of an exhausting diarrhoea from which he 
was hopelessly suffering, and the pale, thin face seemed to bring 
out in bolder relief than I had ever observed before the magnif- 
icent forehead and head. Every line or suggestion of harshness 
had disappeared, and he seemed to possess in these last days the 
gentleness of expression, the voice and manner of a woman." 

* Personal communication to the author. 
621 



" * 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

Although he had scarcely passed the meridian of life, the tre- 
mendous expenditure of energy which he had made in the four 
years of terribly earnest warfare such as he had carried on, had at 
last told upon the constitution even of this man of iron. In the 
intensity of his devotion to the cause of the South he had violated 
the first of nature's laws — the preservation of self. In battle, on 
the march, or in the camp he had permitted to mind or body 
only the minimum of rest. He was now demonstrating the truth 
of the axiom that he who disregards the laws of nature curtails 
his own existence. Though at the time he made light of these 
hardships, and seemed to rise superior to every test placed upon 
his mental and physical strength, he was none the less a sufferer 
in the remoter consequences. A fatal malady had taken hold of 
him, and the once powerful frame, no longer able to withstand 
the onward march of the great destroyer, tottered to its fall, and, 
falling, the proud, aggressive spirit was broken. Forrest, the 
leader of men, who, when mind and body were nourished with 
the quickening pulse of health and vigorous life, threw down the 
gauntlet to death, now like Laocoon, crushed in the ever-tighten- 
ing coils of the serpent of disease, sought refuge first in the 
Church and then in the grave. 

General John T. Morgan,* who had been acting for some years 
as the legal adviser of General Forrest in the many perplexing 
suits which were developed as a result of the financial crisis and 
the discontinuance of his railroad enterprise, says that Forrest at 
this time called upon him and ordered the discontinuance of all 
litigation with which he was connected. In the course of the con- 
versation with General Morgan he said : " General, I am broken in 
health and in spirit, and have not long to live. My life has been 
a battle from the start. It was a fight to achieve a livelihood for 
those dependent upon me in my younger days, and an indepen- 
dence for myself when I grew up to manhood, as well as in the 
terrible turmoil of the Civil War. I have seen too much of vio- 
lence, and I want to close my days at peace with all the 
world, as I am now at peace with my Maker." He told General 
Morgan that he had for some time been attached to the Cumber- 
land Presbyterian Church, and that he intended to live a peaceful 

* Personal communication from United States Senator Morgan. 

622 



I 



HIS DEATH 

and a better life for the remainder of his days. Although assured 
by his distinguished attorney that the suits were favorable to his 
interests, he persisted in their abandonment, saying he would not 
leave his only son a heritage of contention. 

Early in the summer of 1877, his faithful friend, Major Charles 
W. Anderson, was asked to visit him at Hurricane Springs, in mid- 
dle Tennessee, where Forrest was spending the hot months in the 
hope that the waters would prove beneficial to his health. Major 
Anderson was quick to observe a softness of expression and a 
mildness of manner which he had not noticed in the trying times 
of war, and he must have shown something of surprise at this in 
his expression, for Forrest, as if reading his thought, said : " Major, 
I am not the same man you were with so long and knew so well. 
I hope I am a better man now than then. I have been and am 
trying to lead another kind of life. Mary has been praying for 
me night and day for all these years, and I feel now that through 
her prayers my life has been spared and I have passed safely 
through so many dangers." 

Although he received the tenderest and most watchful care, this 
could not stay the dread disease which was destroying his life. 
In the early autumn he returned without improvement to his 
home in Memphis, where he died on October 29, 1877, at the 
early age of fifty-six. 

His death created a profound impression throughout the coun- 
try, and called forth universal expressions of sympathy and respect. 
Many of those against whom he had fought in battle, uniting with 
the South, paid respectful tribute to his memory. The ex-Presi- 
dent of the Confederacy, and some of the surviving members of 
the Confederate cabinet, and thousands upon thousands of high 
and low degree, followed the funeral cortege to Elmwood Cem- 
etery, where, with imposing ceremony and glowing tribute, the 
body of this great soldier was returned to the dust from which it 
had sprung. Upon the bank of that mighty river, which in its tur- 
bulent and irresistible flow may aptly suggest his aggressive and 
restless spirit, which brooked no opposition and swept all before 
it, he sleeps forever. Well might one write upon the shaft that 
will stand in everlasting vigil upon his ashes as a fitting epitaph the 
lines of Lord Wolseley, commander-in-chief of the British army : 

" Forrest had fought like a knight-errant for the cause he be- 

623 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

Heved to be that of justice and right. No man who drew the 
sword for his country in that fratricidal struggle deserves better 
of her ; and as long as the chivalrous deeds of her sons find poets 
to describe them and fair women to sing of them, the name of 
this gallant general will be remembered with affection and sincere 
admiration. A man with such a record needs no ancestry." 



CHAPTER XXIII 

FORREST THE MAN AND THE SOLDIER 

The Blacksmith's Son Becomes the "Great Fighting Leader of Fighting Men " — Lack of 
Education Shown in His Spelling — " I Never See a Pen but what I Think of a Snake " 
— His Ability as a Mathematician — His High Sense of Humor and Repartee — Per- 
sonal Appearance as Given by Mr. Bryan McAllister — Habits and Morality — His 
Family Life — Interesting Incident in the Capture of a Federal Chaplain, Entertained 
at Forrest's Headquarters — Forrest Dismisses One of His Best Officers for Immoral 
Conduct — His Work among the Wounded with His Chief Surgeon — Fondness for 
Children — From Private to a Lieutenant-Generalship — "A Prophet is not without 
Honor, save in His Own Country " — Sherman's Estimate of His Military Ability — Gen- 
eral Joseph E. Johnston's Comments — Opinions of General Beauregard and General 
Wolseley — His Intense Devotion to the South — Wonderful Presence of Mind — The 
Craft and Cunning of the Frontiersman Utilized in Military Operations — Contribu- 
tion of General John T. Morgan— Forrest's Strategy and Tactics — His Reckless 
Courage in Attack — The Famous Movement on the Flank and Rear — The Use of 
His Artillery at Close Quarters — Fierce and Relentless Pursuit— His Aggressive 
Nature — His Gravest Military Fault — Summary and Extreme Punishment of Cow- 
ards — Forrest and Sheridan — Mounted Infantry — An Article of Stonewall Jackson's 
Military Faith — Forrest's Careful Personal Scrutiny of the Men and Animals of His 
Command— He Pays Great Attention to His Commissary — The Value of Discipline 
and Organization. 

THE career of Nathan Bedford Forrest will stand a chapter 
apart in the annals of our country, a story as unique as his 
personality was picturesque. In the obscurity of his origin, 
the success of his struggle against poverty, and the splendor of his 
achievements in war, it will be difficult to match it in all the pages 
of history. The fertile imagination of a Walter Scott could 
scarcely conjure up a tale more romantic than the plain, unvar- 
nished narrative of his life. The son of a blacksmith ; his child- 
hood, youth, and early manhood spent amid the wild scenes of 
the American frontier; reared to such hard labor in the struggle 
for existence that even the scantiest opportunities for an educa- 
tion were denied him ; with patient courage, untiring energy, and 
the honest employment of the strong faculties of mind with which 
nature had endowed him, rising superior to the many temptations 
2R 625 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

to dissipation and lawlessness which the reckless life of the fron- 
tier offered ; in the methods of peace he achieved fortune and the 
respect of all who knew him, and in the stirring times of war be- 
came " the great fighting leader of fighting men" and won undy- 
ing fame. 

Bedford Forrest was only thirteen years of age when the family 
/ emigrated to the Chickasaw country in Mississippi, and when the 
father died, this, the eldest son, was not quite sixteen years old. 
As the new home was then a wilderness, so sparsely settled that 
it was some ten or twelve miles to their nearest white neighbor, 
it is safe to say that Forrest never saw the inside of a school-house 
or had any opportunity for acquiring even the rudiments of an 
education after his thirteenth year. The Duck River settlement 
in Tennessee was so remote from civilization, and the struggle 
for existence in those days so hard and exacting, his parents had 
scant time or means to undertake the education of their children. 
Free schools were unknown, and the remuneration was so small 
that those capable of teaching could with difficulty be induced 
to brave the hardships of a life in the backwoods. One of the 
strongest arguments in favor of the assertion that Forrest never 
enjoyed the advantages of even a country school is the fact that 
he who possessed such a remarkable intellect and quick grasp of 
mind was wofully incapable of correct spelling. This is evident 
in the interesting specimen of his writing shown in the chapter 
which deals with the capture of Colonel Streight. In spelling 
words he was, as Major Anderson says, " governed by sound, and 
his spelling, like his fighting, was the shortest way to the end." 
In spelling "headquarters" he did not appreciate the necessity 
of the letter " a " in " head." He spelled " her " with an " i," and 
although the note to Emma Sanson was written in pencil, the dot 
above the " i " is exactly in the right place and is still distinct. 
The two short letters to General Rucker in 1869, reproduced here, 
are characteristic specimens of Forrest's writing at that period of 
his life. He was perfectly conscious of his shortcomings in this 
direction, and to Major Ellis he once expressed his disinclination 
to write by saying, " I never see a pen but what I think of a 
snake." 

Despite the lack of a school education, contact with business 
men and constant reading of newspapers (for he kept himself 

626 







y4--,--*.;5?i^— <^ ,-<^ ^^ ..i---^ 



^A«-j — *-• 




^4^^-.-^- ^2-^^ A^^^^C^ //^^^ 








♦-<5^ 



^ 







ji^-w.-^ 



^ — ;r/^ 



;^ 



AS A MATHEMATICIAN 

thoroughly versed in the records of the day) gave him an ex- 
cellent idea of the use of words and the construction of phrases. 
When, after dictating a despatch, it was read over for correction, 
he would instantly detect a grammatical error or the awkward 
construction of a phrase, and would say to Major Strange or An- 
derson, as the unsatisfactory paragraph was concluded, " That 
won't do, it hasn't the right pitch." He would then change the 
diction, and always shaped it into a forcible expression. There 
were, however, a few words learned in his boyhood days of which 
he could not rid himself. He always said " betwixt " and " fetch " 
for the words " between " and " bring." " Tell Bell to move up 
and fetch all he's got " was the famous note at Brice's Cross- 
Roads. He used the word " mout " for "might," and " fit" for 
" fought." After Forrest became famous, these idiosyncrasies 
were repeated and exaggerated until the idea prevailed in the 
minds of many that he was more awkward and boorish in his 
speech as well as manner than he really was. He keenly felt the 
want of education, and once remarked: " No one knows the em- 
barrassment I labor under when thrown in the company of edu- 
cated persons."* 

Dr. J. B. Cowan says : " The general was an excellent reader, 
had a large fund of general information and a remarkable knowl- 
edge of men. The real development of his mental powers was 
far in advance of the world about him." It was this practical 
education and common-sense training which made him always 
master of his environment. He was great not only in strategy 
and tactics, and in dealing with matters connected with his mili- 
tary career, but he possessed a remarkable genius for mathe- 
matics, a subject in which he had absolutely no training. He 
could with surprising facility solve the most difficult problems in 
algebra, geometry, and trigonometry, only requiring that the 
theorem or rule be carefully read aloud to him. 

Colonel D. C. Kelley says: " Forrest was a fine conversational- 
ist ; his voice was soft and pleasant, his eyes twinkled as he spoke, 
giving an attractive expression to his face. He seemed to know 
men intuitively, and would have been great in any department of 
life. As in war, he would have met every emergency with daring 

* Manuscripts of Major Charles W. Anderson. 
627 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

skill, and every obstacle with dauntless energy. In politics few 
men would have equalled him in controlling the masses by shrewd 
common-sense methods, or in grasping great issues. He was an 
impressive speaker, and on several occasions I have heard him 
deliver an address in most effective manner." 

Away from the pressing duties of the field or camp, Forrest 
was ever ready to enter into the spirit of the company in which 
he found himself, and would enjoy a good laugh even at his own 
expense. He often brought a smile to the many friends gathered 
around him in teUing of the incident at Cowan's station, when he 
was being hotly pursued through that village by the Federals, 
and a fiery Southern dame, not knowing that she was addressing 
the great General Forrest, shook her fist at him and upbraided 
him as a coward for not turning about to fight the Yankees. The 
last words he heard her say as he passed on the roadside were : 
"Why don't you turn and fight, you cowardly rascal? If old 
Forrest were here, he'd make you fight." 

A specimen of his aptness in repartee is given by Dr. John O. 
Scott, now residing in Sherman, Texas, who was present at a din- 
ner at Marion, Alabama, near the close of the war, at which For- 
rest was the guest of honor. There was at the table a loquacious 
widow, who at one moment interrupted the general conversation 
to ask Forrest why his beard was still black while his hair was 
turning gray. With great politeness he answered that he could 
not give a satisfactory explanation, unless it was that he '* might 
have used his brain a little more than he did his jaw." That 
the curiosity of the widow (whose hair still refused to take on a 
shade of gray) was satisfied with the explanation was evident, 
from the silence that settled down upon her. In physique, car- 
riage, and expression, Forrest possessed a striking personality. He 
was six feet two inches in height, with broad shoulders, full 
chest, long arms, a powerful muscular development, and with an 
average weight of one hundred and eighty pounds. 

Mr. Bryan McAllister, a partisan of the Union side, who, at the 
time in which he wrote (May, 1865), could not conceal the bitter- 
ness of his animosity, wrote of him : " Forrest was a man of fine 
appearance, about six feet in height, havin^ piercing eyes, care- 
fully trimmed mustache and chin-whiskers, dark as night, with fine- 
ly cut features and iron-gray hair. His form was lithe, plainly 

628 



HABITS AND MORALITY 

indicating great physical power and activity. He was neatly 
dressed in citizen's clothes of some gray mixture, the only in- 
dication of military service being the usual number of staff but- 
tons on his vest. I should have marked him as a prominent man 
had I seen him on Broadway. When I was told that he was the 
' Forrest of Fort Pillow ' I devoted my whole attention to him." 

Colonel Adair, of Atlanta, Georgia, for many years a neighbor 
and an intimate personal friend of Forrest, says: "He was more 
than six feet high, well proportioned, with hands tapering like 
those of a woman, small feet and very high instep, exceedingly 
graceful in his movements, a swarthy complexion, and a look of 
the eye that indicated absolute fear of nothing. He was naturally 
left-handed, but by practice became ambidextrous." 

Major Powhatan Ellis writes : " General Forrest was an exceed- 
ingly handsome and striking man, grave and dignified in manner 
unless in anger, then he was terrible to behold." 

Major Anderson says : " Few men were neater in personal ap- 
pearance or in his surroundings than General Forrest. He ab- 
horred dirt and disorder. To have papers scattered about the 
floor, or ashes on the hearth, brought a reproof from him, not 
always in words, for he would frequently take the broom himself 
and never stop until things were neat and clean. His habits were 
strictly temperate. In the two and a half years I served with him 
I never knew him to take liquor but twice, and then only immedi- 
ately after being wounded— once at Tunnel Hill, Georgia, and on 
another occasion at Old Town Creek, in Mississippi. He did not 
know whiskey from brandy, but called everything liquor. He 
was often invited to take a drink, but always declined, and would 
at times, in refusing the invitation, remark with humorous sugges- 
tion and a mild reproof to his aides, ' My staff does all my drink- 
incy.' He never used tobacco in any way, and while he would 
occasionally swear at my pipe, he never failed to get me a good 
pouch of tobacco if it came his way." 

His strict morality was evident in every particular, with this one 
exception of swearing, and to this weakness he never gave way 
unless in the presence of great excitement. During these par- 
oxysms of excitement or rage he had one very noticeable physical 
peculiarity. His complexion, which was naturally sallow, changed 
completely in color. The capillaries became so greatly engorged 

629 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

with blood that the skin of the face and neck took on almost a 
scarlet hue. The blood-vessels of the eye took on the same con- 
gestion, giving him an expression of savageness which could not 
be misunderstood. Everything that was suggestive of kindly feel- 
ing or tenderness seemed to vanish from his nature as thoroughly 
as if his heart had never throbbed with human sympathy. His 
voice, naturally soft, became harsh, husky, and metallic in tone, 
and loud enough to be heard above the roar of cannon, the 
crackling of small arms, or the wild yells of his men. It was 
noticeable that in these moments of excitation the acuteness 
of his perception was increased. Nothing seemed to escape 
his glance, and each emergency or change, no matter how rapidly 
the scene shifted, was met with promptness and almost invariably, 
with success. Without the least affectation of piety, Forrest was 
by nature deeply reverent and religious, despite his terrible temper 
and violent language. In later years he heartily repented of 
these grievous faults, and won at last his greatest triumph in 
becoming victorious over himself. Obscene or vulgar words were 
entirely foreign to his conversation, and such was his detesta- 
tion of these expressions that he would not under any circum- 
stances permit a smutty story to be told or a vulgar expres- 
sion used in his presence. In the family relation Forrest lived 
with the manly consistency which his strong character would 
indicate. 

Colonel Kelley says : " His devotion to his wife was deep and 
sincere. She was a quiet, refined, Christian woman, and could 
control him with a word even when his temper was at the highest. 
He had absolute confidence in the piety of his mother and wife, 
and was himself a thorough believer in Christianity, and was as 
fully persuaded of the efBcacy of prayer in times of danger or in 
battle as Napoleon was a believer in fate. Throughout the war 
he always gave me the fullest opportunities for preaching in camp, 
courteously entertaining at his mess-table all preachers whom I 
might choose to invite. He was always present at such service 
when it was practicable. While we were messmates there was al- 
ways family prayer in his tent at night, conducted alternately by 
the chaplain and myself. At Tupelo, Mississippi, where I once 
requested Bishop Payne to preach for our command, General 
Forrest entertained him at his headquarters. After the ser- 

630 



REVERENT AND RELIGIOUS IN CHARACTER 

vice in the morning most of the general officers called on the 
bishop, and one of these so far forgot himself as to fall into his 
habitual swearing. Forrest became so deeply indignant that he 
could scarcely contain himself at the outrageous conduct of his 
subordinate. He took me to one side, and in an earnest though 
low tone said : ' If you think it ought to be done, I'll kick that 
hog out of the tent.' After his pursuit and capture of Streight, 
the ladies of Huntsville, Alabama, made a public presentation to 
him of a fine horse. I remember his speech, thanking them for 
this, and asking their prayers for himself and his entire command. 
In this off-hand speech he alluded in a most touching and beau- 
tiful way to the fact that in all his battles his confidence in his 
mother's prayers was to him a source of abiding help, and as he was 
speaking the tears rolled from his eyes. On one of our expedi- 
tions a chaplain of the Federal army was overtaken and captured. 
When he learned that he was to be taken to Forrest's headquarters, 
every feature showed the deepest anxiety and depression. As he 
approached. General Forrest bade him to be seated while he was 
attending to other matters. A little later supper was announced, 
and the chaplain was requested to share our meal with us. When 
all were seated, Forrest turned to him reverentially and said : 
' Parson, will you please ask the blessing?' The minister could 
not conceal his surprise, which was evident from the manner in 
which he looked at Forrest before being assured that he was in 
earnest. He gave expression to the gratitude he felt at being 
thus considerately treated. He had evidently expected to be 
killed by the fierce fighter. The next morning Forrest gave him 
an escort through our lines, telling him that he had no war to 
make on non-combatants, and humorously remarked to him as he 
bade him good-bye : ' Parson, I would keep you here to preach 
for me if you were not needed so much more by the sinners on 
the other side.' " 

Dr. J. B. Cowan says: " He had the most profound respect for 
religion, always had preaching at his headquarters on Sundays if 
there was a minister at hand, and had prayers in his tent at night. 
In those days we never started on an expedition but what the 
men were drawn up in line, and the chaplain, while the heads of 
all were uncovered, evoked God's blessing on our cause. Nothing 
called down his ire quicker or brought surer punishment than for 

631 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

a man to disturb religious service in any part of the camp. He 
was a believer in total abstinence, being uncompromisingly op- 
posed to the use of liquor of any kind. One side of General For- 
rest's nature was as gentle and tender as a woman's ; the other, 
when he was aroused, was desperate and thoroughly destructive. 
In quiet moments he was confiding, gentle, kind, and consider- 
ate. When not aroused there was no man on earth more tender 
than he. It was when the battle was over that the kinder and 
gentler part of his nature came out. He would come to my hos- 
pital, help me with the wounded, go about them with kind words 
of encouragement, and aid me in caring for them as tenderly as a 
mother. I have known him to give his clothing and personal 
effects away on many occasions to the needy wounded. He 
would say to me : ' Doctor, do all you can for those poor fellows.' 
I have seen the tears running down his cheeks as he was speak- 
ing to some unfortunate soldier who had not long to live." 

Colonel C. R. Barteau, now a practising attorney in Memphis, 
Tennessee, writes me: "I have thought that one feature of Gen- 
eral Forrest's character deserves special mention — to wit, his idea 
of morality. During the war, when the protection of the weak 
depended so largely upon the military arm, the violation by any 
soldier in his command of the strict rules he established, if report- 
ed to him, was promptly punished. In the presence of his wife 
he was as tractable and loving as a child, though fierce in battle 
and among men when aroused, yet as a guardian of female virtue 
and the sanctity of dependent homes and unprotected families he 
stood in striking contrast with others of the service." 

Major Powhatan Ellis says : " On one occasion, while approach- 
ing his tent, I heard him in tones of great anger using the most bit- 
ter denunciatory language to an officer who, although as brave a 
man as served in the war, and a warm personal friend of Forrest, 
had been guilty of immoral conduct of which Forrest had just 
heard. He denounced him in the severest language I think I 
ever heard, dismissed him from his command on the spot, saying, 
' I will not have any man about me who will be guilty of such 
conduct to a woman.' " 

The natural simplicity and tenderness of this stern warrior was 
shown in his fondness for little children. Two days after the 
capture of Colonel Streight and his command, he stayed all night 

632 



FONDNESS FOR CHILDREN 

at the home of a personal friend of the writer of this book, who 
was greatly surprised to find that Forrest took no interest in talk- 
ing about military matters nor of his recent successful campaign, 
but spent most of the time during the evening carrying his host's 
little two-year-old boy about in his arms and playing with the 
child, seemingly indifferent to the older members of the house- 
hold. On the following day, when about to continue his journey 
on horseback, he asked that he might be permitted to carry the 
child a short distance on the road. Placing a pillow on the 
pommel of the saddle, he rode away with his little comrade, re- 
questing the father to accompany him in order to bring the boy 
back. 

When resting in camp, and when some slight relaxation in his 
attention to duties as a commander was possible, he would absent 
himself to visit at the houses in the neighborhood where there 
were children, with whom he would play and frolic with as much 
activity and joy as if he were again a child. In the midst of the 
desperate fight near Okolona, while he was in one of his terrible 
tornado-like moods, when he seemed to be lost to every thought 
but to avenge his brother's death, in one of the charges the troops 
passed through the premises of a woman who, seemingly stupe- 
fied with fright, with five or six children, was in direct range of 
the severe firing. Touched by her distress, Forrest turned aside 
from the savage business of war to order one of his stafT to dis- 
mount and lead the terrified mother and her little ones to a place 
of safety. 

It has been said of Forrest that he " was born a soldier as men 
are born poets." * The truth of this assertion is evident in the fact 
that, without education or the knowledge of what others had done, 
he showed from the outset of his career an extraordinary capacity 
for war. A private soldier in the ranks in June, 1861, against ob- 
stacles which seemed almost insurmountable he fought his way 
to a lieutenant-generalship, the highest rank but one accorded to 
its soldiers by the Confederacy. While he " seemed to go by 
his horses' leaps from promotion to promotion,"! it is a sad com- 
ment upon the intelligence of the authorities under whom he 
served that they were slow to appreciate and profit by his won- 

* General Dabney H. Maury. t Mr. George W. Cable. 

633 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

derful ability. In fact, it was not until the Civil War was over, 
and men in quiet moments took time to reflect upon his unsur- 
passed record in the army, that he was awarded the place to which 
his genius entitled him. At the funeral of General Forrest, Gov- 
ernor James D. Porter, of Tennessee, rode in the same carriage 
with the ex-President of the Southern Confederacy. In a letter 
to the author. Governor Porter states : " As we were driving to 
the cemetery, Mr. Davis spoke in the highest terms of Forrest's 
ability as a soldier. I remarked : * History has accorded to Gen- 
eral Forrest the first place as a cavalry leader in the war between 
the States, and has named him as one of the half-dozen great 
soldiers of the country.' Mr. Davis replied with great earnest- 
ness : ' I agree with you. The trouble was that the generals com- 
manding in the Southwest never appreciated Forrest until it was 
too late. Their judgment was that he was a bold and enterprising 
partisan raider and rider. I was misled by them, and I never 
knew how to measure him until I read his reports of his cam- 
paign across the Tennessee River in 1864. This induced a study 
of his earlier reports, and after that I was prepared to adopt what 
you are pleased to name as the judgment of history.' In reply I 
said : * I cannot comprehend such lack of appreciation after he 
fought the battle at Brice's Cross-Roads in June of 1864. That 
battle was not a cavalry raid nor an accident. It was the concep- 
tion of a man endowed with a genius for war.' Mr. Davis replied 
to this : ' That campaign was not understood at Richmond. The 
impression made upon those in authority was that Forrest had 
made another successful raid, but I saw it all after it was too 
late.' " The Scriptural adage that " A prophet is not without 
honor, save in his own country," was never more directly appli- 
cable than in the case of Forrest, for it was among those against 
whom he was battling with all the energy of his nature that 
he was first measured in the fulness of his ability. No higher 
compliment could have been paid to any general of the Confed- 
eracy than that accorded to him by the famous commander of the 
Army of the Tennessee, General William T. Sherman, who early 
in 1864 deemed the death of Forrest so essential to the success 
of the Union cause that, as he wrote then, ten thousand lives and 
a limitless expenditure of means were as naught to its accomplish- 
ment. To him, the unlettered soldier stood the chief source of 

634 



SHERMAN'S ESTIMATE 

his anxiety, the most dreaded obstacle to his success in the great 
strategic game he was playing with the immortal Johnston, from 
Dalton to Atlanta. He knew full well that he had the South by 
the throat, and the burden of his despatches and his official corre- 
spondence was : " Keep Forrest away from me, and I will attend 
to Johnston and cut the Confederacy in two." 

Several years after the war, in a conversation with General Frank 
C. Armstrong, whose intimate relations as a lieutenant of Forrest 
were known to him, General Sherman said : " After all, I think 
Forrest was the most remarkable man our Civil War produced on 
either side. To my mind he was the most remarkable in many 
ways. In the first place, he was uneducated, while Jackson and 
Sheridan and other brilliant leaders were soldiers by profession'. 
He had never read a military book in his life, knew nothing about 
tactics, could not even drill a company, but he had a genius for 
strategy which was original, and to me incomprehensible. There 
was no theory or art of war by which I could calculate with any 
degree of certainty what Forrest was up to. He seemed always 
to know what I was doing or intended to do, while I am free to 
confess I could never tell or form any satisfactory idea of what he 
was trying to accomplish."* 

It is a remarkable coincidence that Sherman's famous antag- 
onist. General Joseph E. Johnston, deemed by many the greatest 
strategist and the ablest general on the Confederate side, reached 
the same conclusion as to the proper place to be accorded to For- 
rest among the soldiers of the world. 

Dr. George Ben Johnston, of Richmond, Virginia, informed the 
writer that a few months before the death of his uncle, General 
Joseph E. Johnston, while passing through Washington, he called, 
as was his wont, to pay him a brief visit. Without being an- 
nounced, he went immediately to the library, where he knew his 
relative spent most of his leisure moments, and as he greeted 
him he noticed in his hand a history of Timour. This volume 
naturally suggested the subject of great leaders in war, and in the 
course of the conversation Dr. Johnston asked the general who he 
considered the greatest soldier of our own war. He says that 
without a moment's hesitation his uncle replied: "Forrest, who, 

* Personal communication from General Frank C. Armstrong. 

63s 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

had he had the advantages of a thorough military education and 
training, would have been the great central figure of the Civil 
War." He went on at some length to point out those features 
of Forrest's career which justified this conclusion. Dr. Johnston 
says : " I recollect, moreover, that he spoke most affectionately 
and lovingly of the personality of the general." * 

This estimate of Forrest by Johnston is corroborated by Gen- 
eral Dabney H. Maury, who, in that charming book, Recollections of 
a Virginian, says : " Several years after the war the Legislature 
of Virginia had ordered the portrait of General Johnston to be 
painted for the Capitol. I was requested to attend the sittings 
with General Johnston on one or two occasions, in order to con- 
verse with him while the artist was at work. In the course of 
our conversation he spoke with a great deal of animation upon 
the great soldiers of the world and of their campaigns. Reverting 
to our own war, he discussed the ability and campaigns of Lee, 
Jackson, Forrest, and others, and, according to Lee and Jackson 
the full measure of their fame, he pronounced General Forrest the 
greatest soldier the Civil War produced." 

In a conversation with General Maury, General Beauregard once 
remarked : " Forrest's capacity for war seemed only to be limited 
by the opportunities for its display." 

General Wolseley, commander-in-chief of the British army, 
wrote of him : " Forrest had no knowledge of military science 
nor of military history to teach him how he should act, what ob- 
jective he should aim at, and what plans he should make to secure 
it. He was entirely ignorant of what other generals in previous 
wars had done under very similar circumstances. What he lacked 
in book lore was to a large extent compensated for by the sound- 
ness of his judgment upon all occasions, and by his power of 
thinking and reasoning with great rapidity under fire, and under 
all circumstances of surrounding peril or of great mental or bodily 
fatigue. Panic found no resting-place in that calm brain of his, 
and no danger, no risk, appalled that dauntless spirit. Inspired 
with true military instincts, he was verily nature's soldier. It 
would be difficult in all history to find a more varied career than 
his, a man who, from the greatest poverty, without any learning, 

* Personal communication, in possession of the author. 
636 



INTENSE DEVOTION TO THE SOUTH 

and by sheer force of character alone became the great fighting 
leader of fighting men, a man in whom an extraordinary military 
instinct and sound common-sense supplied to a very large extent 
his unfortunate want of military education. His military career 
teaches us that the genius which makes men great soldiers is not 
to be measured by any competitive examination in the science or 
art of war. ' In war,' Napoleon said, ' men are nothing ; a man is 
everything.' It will be difficult to find a stronger corroboration 
of this maxim than is to be found in the history of General For- 
rest's operations." 

With all this endowment by nature for the career of a soldier, 
he could not have achieved such results had there not been com- 
bined with this natural ability a spirit of devotion to the cause he 
had espoused, to which all else was a secondary consideration. 
To the success of the effort to establish the Southern Confed- 
eracy he subordinated his fortune, his boundless ambition, and 
freely offered his life. When the Confederacy was unable to fur- 
nish him with necessary supplies and arms, his private fortune 
was frequently called into requisition. The arms and equipment 
for his original battalion were thus secured, and on a single expe- 
dition into west Tennessee he spent some twenty thousand dollars 
of his personal funds in the purchase of supplies needed for the 
Confederacy. When the war ended, carrying with it great finan- 
cial loss to him, that which was left he never ceased to share with 
the widows and orphans of those who had fallen in defence of his 
battle-flag, or the soldiers who were disabled and survived, until he 
left himself and his family practically bankrupt. This earnest de- 
votion of the elder brother carried every able-bodied male member 
of his mother's family into the field, while his only child, then a 
mere lad, was permitted to quit college in order to serve with his 
father in active duty until the war was over. In one battle, in 
which his boy was injured and carried to the rear, the father, 
as soon as it was possible, went to see how dangerously his son 
was hurt. Upon being assured that the wound was not serious, 
he ordered him to mount his horse and to continue in the fight, 
which command the plucky lad was only too willing to obey. 

General Forrest possessed not only a mind of unusual power, 
but one capable of reasoning calmly and rapidly, no matter how 
serious or perplexing the problems which presented themselves. 

637 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

Even in moments of extreme peril, so rapid was the process by 
which his brain registered and analyzed every detail of the picture 
which flashed through it, that any action which the emergency 
demanded followed as logically and as quickly as the roar of the 
thunder follows the lightning's flash. The ordinary mind can deal 
with reasonable certainty and success with the things that are 
expected, but to cope successfully with the unexpected is the 
crucial test of extraordinary ability. In war, and especially upon 
the battle-field, it is the unexpected which most often happens, 
and in these great emergencies the mind is too often dazed by 
the rapid and kaleidoscopic changes which are occurring, or tem- 
porarily stunned by the shock of an unlooked-for stroke. It is on 
such occasions that he who hesitates is lost, and as in nature 

" Everything that grows 
Holds in perfection but a single moment," 

so in the crises of human affairs a single moment of time holds 
success or failure as the opportunity it brings is or is not grasped. 
Whether his life alone was in the balance, or whether the safety 
of his command was involved, this wonderful presence of mind 
did not fail. 

When the attempt upon his life was made at Hernando, and 
again at Columbia, in 1863, even after he had received a severe 
and painful wound with a pistol of large calibre, his conduct was 
marked with as much deliberation and coolness as if nothing im- 
portant was transpiring. In a larger sense this great gift of nature 
was exhibited at the battle of Parker's Cross-Roads in 1862, and 
had Forrest made no other campaign than this expedition into 
west Tennessee, and had fought no other battle, it would have 
stamped him as a commander of extraordinary capacity. Con- 
sidering all the conditions which prevailed, the extrication of his 
command with insignificant loSs, his retreat to the Tennessee 
River only a few hours away, and the safe passage of his troops, 
wagons, and artillery, with a victorious army at his heels and a 
fleet of gunboats patrolling the mighty stream which in the dead 
of winter he was compelled to cross, was an unequalled achievement. 

In all of his military operations, to his quick grasp of the best 
strategic or tactical manoeuvre, Forrest added a native cunning, 
which stood him well in hand in many of his ventures. This is evi 

638 



HIS CRAFT AND CUNNING 

dent in the constant exaggeration of the strength of his command. 
In the west Tennessee expedition, in 1862, with a small brigade of 
new levies, the first thing he did when well in the country occupied 
by the enemy was to arrest a number of Union sympathizers and 
place them under guard within the limits of his camp. Having 
carried a number of kettle and bass drums, he caused these to be 
beaten at all hours of the day and night, and had his troops march 
on foot in sight of the prisoners, who were informed that it was 
Cheatham's division of infantry passing by. When the men on 
foot had disappeared behind some dense wood or hill which inter- 
vened, they were made to return by another route, mount their 
horses, and again file by as cavalry over the road along which they 
had just paraded. These captives were then permitted to escape, 
and, as Forrest intended, made their way rapidly to the head- 
quarters of the nearest Federal commander, and informed him of 
the great strength of the Confederate force, the soldiers of which 
made no secret of their intention permanently to occupy and hold 
that section of the country. The presence of Cheatham's division 
of infantry is repeatedly mentioned in the ofificial despatches of 
the Union commanders at this date, and Forrest's cavalry was 
reported several times larger than the number of troops he actu- 
ally commanded. The object of the expedition was not only to 
capture what supplies and prisoners he might come upon dur- 
ing the fortnight he was to remain in that section, but to cause 
the withdrawal from the immediate front of the Confederate 
army of as many of the enemy as possible. While Forrest did 
not have more than three thousand soldiers in this little army 
of invasion, it caused General Grant to detach, in order to drive 
him across the Tennessee, between twenty-five and thirty thou- 
sand men. 

In the capture of Murfreesborough, in 1862, of Streight's com- 
mand, in 1863, of Athens, Alabama, in 1864, and in many other 
instances, he repeated this practice. 

General John T. Morgan relates that when, early in the war, 
with a new regiment thoroughly drilled and equipped, he was or- 
dered to report to General Forrest, the latter was greatly pleased 
as well as surprised to observe the perfection of this regiment in 
drilling to the sound of the bugle. Forrest asked him if he could 
in this way cause his men to pass in a circle around any given 

639 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

point. The order was given and the movement was satisfactorily 
accomplished, at which the general expressed great satisfaction, 
saying: " I will often have need of this manoeuvre, as it will be 
necessary from time to time for me to show more men than I 
actually have on the field." * 

The strategy and tactics which seemed intuitive with Forrest 
were demonstrated in a brilliant manner at Murfreesborough in 
July of 1862. To reach this place he marched one hundred miles, 
crossing the Tennessee River and three formidable mountains 
— namely, Walden's Ridge, Lookout, and the Cumberland. So 
guarded and rapid was his approach that, at daylight on the 13th 
of July, before his presence was suspected by the enemy, his men 
were riding into their camps. Discovering the Federals in three 
separate positions, he quickly interposed a suflficient number of 
his troops between their central column and the two outlying 
bodies, to hold these at bay. With the remainder of his force, in 
overwhelming numbers he assaulted and carried the central posi- 
tion, capturing the commanding general, as well as all of the Union 
troops engaged at this point. He then turned his entire atten- 
tion to their right wing, which he also overwhelmed and caused 
to surrender. The other detachment, together with the battery 
of artillery, he captured by diplomacy and sheer " bluff." 

It was Forrest's tactical manoeuvre at Thompson's station 
which carried his own battery and his troops to such an advan- 
tageous position that he enfiladed the Federal guns, drove them 
from the field, following this by a rapid movement to the flank 
and rear, and by a desperate assault which caused the surrender 
to him of the entire command. 

At Okolona, in the open prairies, where every man in either 
army was in plain view, he won the opening dash by taking in- 
stant advantage of an error in tactics on the part of the Federal 
commander. Before it could be corrected the charge was sounded, 
and at full speed he rode with his troopers at his heels towards 
the spot he wished to strike, and overthrew his adversary. Speak- 
ing of this, he remarked: " I saw Grierson make a 'bad move,'t 
and then I rode right over him." 

* Manuscripts of Senator Morgan, in possession of the author, 
t An expression used in the game of checkers, in which he excelled. 

640^ 



HIS BRILLIANT STRATEGY 

^ There were few examples of strategy more brilliant in concep- 
tion and successful in execution than that by which Forrest de- 
feated the expedition under Generals A. J. Smith and J. A. 
Mower, in the latter part of August, 1864. He found himself 
powerless to offer successful resistance to this army of invasion, 
which had reached the vicinity of Oxford, Mississippi. Leaving 
Chalmers to make as vigorous a show of resistance as possible in 
front of Smith, selecting two thousand of his best-mounted men, 
he rode around Smith's army at night, and, without his absence 
or the movement being suspected, swept to the Federal rear with 
lightning rapidity, and on the 21st of August, at daybreak, rode 
boldly into the heart of Memphis, then heavily garrisoned, carry- 
ing alarm and consternation to the heart of the Federal com- 
mander in this stronghold. The result of this operation was a 
rapid withdrawal of Smith's entire army, which was reconcen- 
trated about Memphis, from which point they did not again vent- 
ure for the invasion of Forrest's territory. 

In all probability no strategic move suggested during the war 
would have proved more beneficial to the cause of the South than 
that in which General Forrest proposed to close the Mississippi 
and the Tennessee rivers to navigation in 1864. His west Tennes- 
see expedition in December, 1862, had closed railroad communica- 
tion and traffic between the northwestern States and the armies 
which were scattered along the Mississippi and in front of Mobile. 
Even Grant acknowledged that from this time on he would have 
to rely upon the river alone for his supplies. Nearly two years 
later, Colonel George E. Waring, Jr., while serving in this district, 
wrote : " Union City was at the crossing of two railroads, one 
pointing towards Mobile and one towards Memphis, but neither 
leading anywhere. There was a tradition that trains had run upon 
each, but many bridges had to be rebuilt to make the short line 
to Columbus passable, and the rest was ruin, for Forrest had been 
there with his cavalry."* If these streams were closed, then no 
route was left to the Union armies in this portion of the South 
but the long and perilous voyage by sea. In the light of what 
Forrest accomplished on the Tennessee River in November of 

* WMp and Spur, by George E. Waring, Jr., formerly colonel of the 
Fourth Missouri Cavalry, U. S. V. 

2 8 641 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

1864, there can be little doubt that he would have succeeded 
in this larger enterprise had he been backed even by the slen- 
der resources of the Confederacy. The men he proposed to en- 
list were natives of this section and intimately acquainted with 
the topography of the country. They were thoroughly acclimated 
and exempt from the pernicious malarial diseases which would have 
overwhelmed any unacclimated troops sent to drive them out. 
The country was admirably adapted to the mode of warfare he 
proposed to carry on. Communicating with the Mississippi by 
sluggish ponds or bayous were countless cypress swamps. Many 
of the inhabitants of these bottom lands were lumbermen, who, 
in the season of overflow, employed themselves in felling the tim- 
ber and floating it to the Mississippi, where it was rafted to New 
Orleans, and their familiarity with these waterways, unknown to 
others, would have made them invaluable auxiliaries under such a 
leader as Forrest. Moreover, a large proportion of the population 
in west Tennessee and Mississippi were people in moderate cir- 
cumstances — small farmers, cattle and lumber men, whose methods 
of living had hardened them to exposure, and made them not only 
familiar with wood-craft, but experts with fire-arms. His keen, 
practical sense saw another tremendous advantage in this move. 
There was at this time in this very section a large number of men 
capable of military duty, who formerly had been in the Confeder- 
ate service, and who, either by expiration of service or other rea- 
sons satisfactory to themselves, had left the army and gone within 
the Union lines, to be near enough to protect and provide for their 
families. Forrest knew that the sympathies of this class were still 
with the South, but he knew as well that they had no intention of 
joining the armies of the Confederacy in the field. He argued 
with the authorities that he could rally around his standard a for- 
midable army of these men, a large proportion of whom could in no 
other manner be made of service to the Confederacy. This force, 
scattered in detachments throughout this long strip of river coun- 
try, with a dozen twenty-pound rifle Parrott guns properly distrib- 
uted and expertly employed, would either close the Mississippi or 
make transportation so precarious that it would amount to a prac- 
tical interruption of navigation. Should his detachments be driven 
from point to point it would require an enormous fleet of gun- 
boats and a large army co-operating in conjunction with them 

642 



HIS AGGRESSIVENESS 

upon the land. These were the arguments submitted to the au- 
thorities at Richmond. 

The only hope of success for the Confederacy was in the 
Fabian policy of prolonging the war by interfering with the sup- 
plies of the armies of the Union in the field and fighting as few 
pitched battles as possible. No less a personage than General 
Grant expressed in his Memoirs that it was possible for the 
Confederacy to have won had this policy been adopted and ad- 
hered to. 

Some of the notable features in Forrest's method of warfare 
were : the reckless courage in the attack ; the almost invariable 
MTiovement on the flank and rear, so demoralizing to an enemy, 
and especially so when made, as he usually did it, under cover, 
which concealed the strength of the flanking forces ; the quick dis- 
mounting of his men to fight under cover of every object which 
afforded protection ; the use of his artillery, which he often carried 
along with the troops in line and always placed close to the enemy; 
and, finally, the fierce and relentless pursuit when his antagonist 
yielded. 

His system of fighting was distinctly aggressive, and when pos- 
sible he always took the offensive. He realized the value of bold- 
ness, even when akin to rashness, and when possible he attacked 
notwithstanding his disparity of numbers. He knew that the ex- 
citement of a forward movement inspired even the timid with 
courage, while to stand in the open to receive a charge was a se- 
vere test of the bravest men. When the enemy was about to 
charge, or was moving upon him, his rule was to make a counter- 
attack before they reached him. Discussing under flag of truce 
with a Federal officer the question of tactics on one occasion, 
Forrest showed his disregard for the manual by remarking that in 
a fight he would " give more for fifteen minutes of bulge than for 
a week of tactics." Although, as was very often the case in his 
encounters, his troops were fewer in number than those he was 
assailing, he rarely failed to disconcert his antagonist by feigned 
attacks and a show of force at various points. Concentrating rapid- 
ly, he would then lead in person the fierce onslaught, and at the 
striking point would have the greater strength. Asked once by 
a Federal officer why it was that he was so generally successful in 
his battles, he replied that he could not understand it, unless it 

643 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

was because he managed " to get there first with the most men."* 
His aggressiveness did not stop with the active personal direction 
of his troops in the field. The moral of his teaching and example 
was never to miss a chance to strike the enemy. He said to his sol- 
diers : *' Whenever you meet the enemy, no matter how few there 
are of you or how many of them, show fight. If you run away they 
will pursue and probably catch you. If you show fight, they will 
think there are more of you, and will not push you half so hard."* 
On every occasion Forrest practised what he preached. With 
scant regard for his own life, he set an example of desperate cour- 
age which justified the statement of General Stephen A. Hurlbut 
before the Congressional committee, that " Forrest is desperate. 
He will lead his men farther than any one I know." 

Whether in the thickest of the battle, where hundreds or thou- 
sands were rushing at each other in deadly combat, or on the 
lonely highway where he came face to face with a single adver- 
sary, or in the reconnaissance by day or night, when alone or at- 
tended by a single member of his staff he would ride into the 
enemy's lines and even into their camps, he was with pistol or 
sabre ever ready to assert his physical prowess. It is known that 
he placed hors de combat thirty Federal ofificers or soldiers fighting 
hand-to-hand. 

General Richard Taylor, in his entertaining book, Destruction 
and Reconstruction, says : " I doubt if any commander since the 
days of the lion-hearted Richard killed as many enemies with his 
own hand as Forrest." 

Mr. George W. Cable has said that his gravest military fault was 
that he could not keep out of the thickest of the fight. It was one 
of his favorite maxims that " war means fighting, and fighting means 
killing." It was not his idea that campaigns could be conducted 
and battles won without loss. A soldier's duty was to put himself 
where he could do the most harm to his enemy, and the first duty 
of a commanding oflficer was to so direct, control, and influence the 
soldiers who must do the fighting that he could get the most out 
of them. It will, I think, be conceded that no commander on 
either side in our war, or in any war, ever got more fighting, 

* Life of General George H. Thomas, p. 599. 

* Manuscripts of Mr. W. G. Wilkins, in possession of the author. 

644 



HOW HE TREATED COWARDS 

marching, or work out of the men and officers under him than 
did General Forrest. With the men he led, strict discipline was 
not exercised, yet under the wonderful influence of one who in- 
spired the timid with courage and the brave with the spirit of 
emulation they fought with the steadiness of trained veterans. 
The Civil War does not afford an exhibition of more steady, per- 
sistent fighting against great odds than that shown by Forrest's 
command at Brice's Cross-Roads. Hour after hour, from ten in 
the morning until nearly five in the afternoon, almost without ces- 
sation of firing, they stood up against twice their number of Fed- 
eral troops thoroughly well armed and equipped, and finally drove 
them from the field in wild disorder. It is probable that not a 
regiment of his command on that field could have made a correct 
tactical movement on foot in action, and, beyond the formation of 
fours and the evolution into line for the charge, the cavalry man- 
ual was practically obsolete. The impression has prevailed that 
the men who composed Forrest's command were in the main wild 
and desperate characters. Such was not the case. A large pro- 
portion of them were thoroughly well-behaved citizens — farmers, 
mechanics, clerks, and the sons of the wealthy and educated. 
They were naturally not more brave than other soldiers of the 
Confederacy, but they caught the inspiration of courage from 
their leader. Every soldier under him knew it was expected 
that he would fight to the death if it became necessary, and he 
knew, moreover, that Forrest had no respect or mercy for a cow- 
ard. It was his order to his officers to shoot any man who flick- 
ered, and he emphasized this order by his own conduct. There 
was no false sentiment in the mind of Forrest connected with 
war. There was an end* to be achieved — the independence of 
the Southern Confederation. To that consummation everything 
must be subordinated. To his mind the killing of one of his own 
s'oldiers now and then, as an example of what a coward might ex- 
pect, was a proper means to the end. At Murfreesborough, tn 
1864, he shot the color-bearer of one of the infantry regiments 
which stampeded, and thus succeeded in rallying the men to their 
duty. At Brentwood he did not hesitate to do the same thing in 
the effort to check some panic-stricken Confederates. In the 
fight near West Point, General Chalmers relates how Forrest 
leaped from his horse and seized one of his troops who was run- 

045 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

ning to the rear, and thrashed him soundly with a stick, forcing 
him to go back in line. 

He was always at the front, and close enough for the naked eye 
to see what his opponents were doing. He never carried field- 
glasses, and rarely used those of his staff. As the opposing lines 
were approaching, he took his place at the skirmish-line almost 
always on his horse. He practised this from the first days 
of the war to the last, and his custom was followed more and 
more by other officers as their experience increased. General 
Chalmers states that as the battle at Franklin, in 1864, was about 
to begin, there were with Forrest five general officers upon the 
skirmish-line at one point on the day of that fatal engagement. 
At no time would he remain far in the rear to give orders, but 
with rare exceptions led his men in action, and relied upon his 
staff to deliver messages to his subordinate commanders. He 
would change from point to point, wherever he found the line 
hardest pressed, and none about him ever found it necessary to 
ask where the general could be found, but rode straight to that 
part of the field where the firing was heaviest. 

The fact that Forrest was so often wounded, and that he had 
twenty-nine horses shot, some of these being several times struck 
before they fell, bears witness that his method of warfare was 
dangerous business, but whether or not it was a grave military 
fault is a question for discussion. Nothing so inspires that 
most important factor in battle, the private soldier, with such 
determination to conquer and with such disregard for his own 
life as to be led into action by a commander who is willing 
to take the same risk that his soldiers take, and who stays with 
them in the thickest of the fray. 

Upon the Union side, Sheridan more nearly resembled Forrest 
in this particular than any other of the opposing generals, and 
there was no fighter of cavalry in the Federal army who could 
compare with him in the enthusiasm his presence aroused or in 
the ability to bring out the best fighting qualities of his troops. 
Mr. Charles A. Dana, in his interesting memoirs, says in effect that 
when he asked Sheridan if he thought it was best for him thus to 
expose himself so frequently and with such seeming disregard for 
his personal safety, the great cavalryman replied that he thought 
it was, since his men believed in him and would fight better be- 

646 



HIS FLANK MOVEMENT 

cause he was always with them at the front. Notwithstanding 
Forrest's eagerness to have a personal hand in the fray, it would 
be unjust to his ability as a general to conclude that he at any 
time lost sight of the obligations he owed as a commander to the 
troops that were with him on the f^eld. In his heavier battles, 
where success depended upon the proper direction of his various 
commands, he remained close in the rear, moving from point to 
point behind his lines where he thought his presence was most 
needed. It was in the smaller fights, where the men he command- 
ed were immediately about him, that he led and took part in these 
desperate hand-to-hand encounters. Thus at Bogler's Creek all the 
fighting done was by not more than five hundred troops, who were 
immediately about General Forrest. In the various desperate en- 
counters in the pursuit of William Sooy Smith from West Point 
towards Memphis, where much fighting of this character was done 
by the general, there were at no time over one thousand Southern 
troops immediately engaged. There were fewer at Sacramento, 
Monterey, and other smaller and hard-fought hand-to-hand melees. 
At Chickamauga, Brice's Cross -Roads, Harrisburg, and other 
battles where a large number of troops were engaged and had 
to be looked after, he took no part in the fighting, because he 
knew he was more needed in the general direction of affairs. 

The value of the flank movement seemed to have occurred to 
Forrest in the very first action in which he was engaged. His 
tactics were to throw out skirmishers dismounted, who would en- 
gage the enemy from the front and attract their attention. He 
would then manoeuvre his troops in such a way as to keep his 
adversary in constant expectation of an attack. Meanwhile, hav- 
ing picked out a certain proportion of his troops (and for this he usu- 
ally selected the more daring and reckless of his men), they would 
sweep around and under cover of timber or some intervening rise 
of ground to gain the rear and flank of his opposing forces. The 
moment he saw any suggestion of alarm or confusion in their ranks, 
or as soon as the firing from his flanking column in their attack 
was heard, he would charge in the front with every soldier in his 
command. He did not weaken his fighting strength by holding 
a proportion in reserve. The most instructive illustration of his 
employment of the flank attack was in the action at Brice's Cross- 
Roads, and it is probable that the small force of less than three 

647 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

hundred men, detached five miles from the battle-field for an at- 
tack on the flank and rear, saved the day for him in that desper- 
ately fought engagement. Their appearance at the critical mo- 
ment caused the detachment of a strong body of troops from the 
main line, and at this juncture Forrest made his final and suc- 
cessful attack. 

Very early in the war Forrest had learned that men on horse- 
back could do slight execution with fire-arms as compared to those 
dismounted and taking advantage of all possible means for protec- 
tion and steadiness of aim, and he adopted this method of fight- 
ing, using his horses chiefly for transporting his troops. 

In 1856, General Dabney H. Maury, then an officer of minor 
grade in the regular army, so favorably impressed the Secretary of 
War with a system of tactics for mounted infantry which he had 
evolved that the method was adopted and demonstrated practi- 
cally with one or two regiments of troops on duty with the hostile 
Indians on the plains. Of this Forrest, of course, knew nothing, 
and, while not novel, it was original with him. It may justly be 
claimed that he established this important feature of warfare as a 
part of military science. 

In fighting his men dismounted, he would not always conform 
to the rule of having every fourth man act as horse-holder. At 
times a single trooper would hold his own and seven other horses, 
and in certain extreme cases the entire command was made to 
dismount, hitch their horses to fences or trees, thus carrying ev- 
ery man into action. On one of these occasions, when some of 
his officers who were drilled in the cavalry manual suggested to 
him the danger of leaving the animals unprotected, he remarked : 
" It won't make any difference this time, I need the men to whip 
the enemy, and if they do not whip them they'll have no need 
for horses." It is stated in the records that Forrest at one time 
proposed to press into service old men beyond, and boys well un- 
der, the conscription age, to be carried along with the troops to act 
as horse-holders, while the able-bodied men went into the fight. 

In fighting his artillery, when occasion demanded he used them 
as if they were shot-guns, charging right up to the opposing lines, 
pouring in their double-shotted contents at short range. While 
this, as Colonel Kelley says, would seem madness in an ordinary 
commander, the practice was vindicated by the splendid results 

648 



HIS ATTENTION TO DETAILS 

he won. At Brice's Cross-Roads the artillery was pushed along 
the muddy roads by the men on foot, and at one point, when 
he had not sufficient troops to complete his formation, Morton 
was ordered to hitch his horses and charge with his guns when 
the final assault was made. He said : " Artillery was made to be 
captured, and I wanted to see them take Morton's guns." 

Stonewall Jackson said : " Always mystify, mislead, and sur- 
prise the enemy if possible. When you strike and overcome him, 
never give up the pursuit as long as your men have strength to 
follow ; for an army routed, if hotly pursued, becomes panic-strick- 
en, and can then be destroyed by half its number." 

No man demonstrated the truth of this axiom in war more 
successfully than General Forrest. His fierce and untiring two- 
day pursuit of Sturgis from the battle-field of Brice's Cross-Roads 
has scarcely a parallel in history, while that of William Sooy 
Smith from West Point towards Memphis, and of Streight in the 
famous raid of 1863, are brilliant illustrations of the value of this 
method of warfare. On the other hand, in covering the retreat 
of Hood from Tennessee, Forrest demonstrated that in defensive 
methods he was equally as successful as in attack. 

General Forrest was keenly appreciative of the necessity of giv- 
ing his personal attention to the smallest details connected with 
his military operations in order to achieve success. He was not 
content to accept reports from even his most trusted and faithful 
subordinates, but he made careful inspection of his artillery, the 
harness, and the condition of the animals as well as the men, 
and held his officers strictly accountable for keeping his com- 
mand supplied with ammunition, forage, and rations. Nothing 
seemed to escape his careful scrutiny. When on the march, 
which usually began at daylight, he would take his place by the 
roadside and observe regiment after regiment as they passed be- 
fore him. He would then mount his horse and ride through the 
column from rear to front. If it were raining and he saw a car- 
tridge-box exposed to the weather, the delinquent need expect no 
mercy from the commander. If in crossing a stream a soldier 
permitted his ammunition to get wet, he might consider him- 
self fortunate to escape with a reprimand. His quick eye 
readily detected a lame or tender - footed animal, or one that 
did not seem to be well-fed or properly cared for. A veteran 

649 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

of Forrest's command informed the writer that on one occasion 
the general ordered him to leave the ranks, remarking : " Why do 
you let your horse's back get sore? Take your saddle off and 
let me see what's the matter." On exposing the animal's back 
it was found to be chafed. Forrest reprimanded him, and dis- 
mounted to give him a practical lesson in the manner of rolling 
the blanket so that the pressure would be taken from the abraded 
surface. As he rode away, the general remarked : " You must 
never again let me see you riding a horse with a sore back ; there 
is no need of it." A few days later the general recognized the 
same trooper, and also noticed that he had not fixed the blanket 
as he had been instructed, and, narrating the circumstance, the 
trooper said : "I did not get off so easily that time. The general 
gave me hell, but it taught me a lesson I never forgot." 

The axiom that " an army, like a snake, must travel on its belly," 
seemed a part of his military faith. His mind seemed as busy 
with the problems of the commissary and the quartermaster as 
with the active operations on the field. In all of the numerous in- 
cursions which Forrest made within the Union lines, the country 
was scoured in every direction for supplies. Every pound of 
lead, powder, leather, and other articles which were scarce in the 
Confederacy were gathered up and sent south. Late in the war, 
he even went so far as to strip the wagon-wheels of their tires, and 
in this way took out with him enough iron to shoe the horses of 
his command. He not only sent out details to collect deserters 
and to aid the ofificers in conscripting, but one of their chief duties 
was to gather up cattle, horses, mules, and hogs to be taken away. 
In retreating, he would often fight day after day and incur great 
risks in order to protect his supplies. In the west Tennessee ex- 
pedition of 1863, when escape in all other directions was barred 
by strong detachments of the enemy sent to capture him, rather 
than desert his wagon-train he passed within sight of the church- 
steeples of Memphis and its garrison of several thousand Federals, 
with a drove of cattle and hogs, and brought the entire con- 
voy safely to his rendezvous in Mississippi. After the over- 
whelming defeat of Hood at Nashville, he so successfully held 
back the Federals that he not only saved the wagon-train and 
artillery — taking time to double the teams for the last fifty miles 
of the retreat — crossed the Tennessee, bringing the animals back 

650 



WATCHFUL CARE OF HIS TROOPS 

for the remaining wagons, but, more than this, a drove of hogs 
and cattle which he gathered up in the neighborhood of Mur- 
freesborough were brought safe to Duck River in the same re- 
treat, and this in the dead of winter, which made progress exceed- 
ingly difificult. 

The precautions he took for the comfort and safety of his men 
were fully appreciated, and formed one of the strong bonds of 
attachment between the soldiers and their commander. When 
they bivouacked for the night, in proximity to the enemy, he nev- 
er rested until he saw in person that the pickets were properly 
posted, and that experienced and reliable men were detailed for 
important duties. His men felt the most implicit reliance in this 
watchful care of themselves. A lieutenant of the escort said: 
" We had that confidence in him which I imagine the Old Guard 
had in Napoleon. On one occasion, while we were supposed to 
be in a very dangerous position, with the enemy all about us, we 
were ordered to go into camp for the night. There were some 
new recruits with us, who, seeing the older members of the com- 
mand preparing to lie down and go to sleep, said: 'You don't 
expect to lie down and go to sleep with the enemy all around 
you, do you?* The answer was: * Of course we do ; General For- 
rest told us to do it.' " 

A strong point in the military make-up of Forrest was the care- 
ful study he made of the ofificers and men immediately about him, 
and upon whom he was forced to depend for the delivery and ex- 
ecution of his instructions. He observed them closely in camp, 
on the march, in action, and his clear judgment enabled him soon 
to distinguish those upon whom he could depend in the hour of 
need, and also to determine to what special kind of duty each was 
best adapted. A subordinate wrote him on one occasion that a 
certain outpost was such a tempting point for illicit trafific with 
the enemy that every officer who had been placed there had 
yielded to the temptation and become corrupt and worse than 
useless from a military point of view. He suggested to the gen- 
eral that a certain ofificer, to whom Forrest was much attached, 
be sent to the post, and who, on account of a recent severe wound, 
was at that time not fit for duty in the field. Forrest's reply 
stated that "the ofificer you mention is one of my best and bravest 
soldiers, but when money is in question he will not do to tie to." 

651 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

Forrest's ingenuity seemed capable of surmounting each ob- 
stacle as it presented itself. In crossing streams where there were 
no ferries or bridges, if the water were sufficiently deep to wet the 
caissons, he would have the ammunition-chests emptied and the 
charges carried over by the men on horseback, each man holding 
his burden well above the water as his horse floundered across. 
If the water were deep enough to swim the animals, and thus 
render it dangerous to attempt this method of transportation, he 
would construct a raft, or use any dug-outs or skiffs or small boats 
of any description that could be obtained, in or upon which the 
powder and ammunition were floated over. On a number of oc- 
casions, when by careful measurement it was determined that this 
method could be safely employed, he would have a floor or layer 
of rails placed upon the top of the bed of an empty wagon, and 
upon this temporary platform the ammunition would be placed 
and carried over dry. Double teams of horses or mules, which 
had been made to swim to the opposite bank, would then be 
hitched to one end of a stout rope, the other end of which was at- 
tached to the tongue and double trees of the wagon, and in this novel 
manner it would be drawn across. The artillery would in like man- 
ner be dragged along the bottom of the stream, at times complete- 
ly out of sight until it appeared at the opposite bank. The crossing 
of Black Creek and other streams in this manner enabled him to 
overtake Colonel Streight in the memorable raid of 1863. In the 
rapid march upon Memphis, in 1864, when he caused the with- 
drawal of Smith's army from Mississippi, the object of his expedi- 
tion became threatened with defeat by the sudden and unexpected 
rise in two streams which it became necessary for him to cross. 
It was here that he constructed the half-pontoon and half-suspen- 
sion bridges, using grape - vines as cables, and supporting these 
by cypress logs and drift - wood, which he floated in the mid- 
dle of the stream between the cables. These watercourses 
he crossed in an incredibly short period of time, which, had he 
stopped to construct upright bridges or to build boats, would have 
delayed him for at least twenty-four hours and placed his command 
in great danger. His practice of taking advantage of islands with 
narrow sloughs of water between them and the mainland, in order 
to conceal his troops from passing gunboats, and as places of 
refuge when the enemy were in close pursuit, are examples of 

652 



ONE OF THE GREAT SOLDIERS OF THE WORLD 

the natural shrewdness which he possessed, and are worthy of 
irnitation. 

In view of what Forrest accomplished, it may well be surmised 
that had his genius for war been reinforced, by a proper education 
and a systematic military training, he would have won a still higher 
place among the great soldiers of the world. Such an education 
would have taught him the value of discipline and organization. 
These essentials, which, once learned, make the man in war part of 
the machine, were to him in the earlier months of the struggle a 
sealed book, and placed him at great disadvantage. 

General Joseph E. Johnston went so far as to say that had he 
received such training Forrest would have been " the great cen- 
tral figure of the war." 



POSTSCRIPT 

THE following incidents in the life of General Forrest were not 
known to me at the time the first edition of the book was 
completed. They were pubHshed by General Basil W. Duke, 
in Home and Farm, in 1906. This distinguished soldier and Home 
and Farm have permitted the sketches to be made a part of this 
Life of Forrest. 

In the winter of 1862-1863, General John H. Morgan was the 
great romantic figure in the Confederate cavalry service in the 
Army of Tennessee. The capture of a detachment of several 
thousand Federal soldiers at Harts ville, followed immediately by 
the meteor-like "Christmas Raid," in which he destroyed the 
Louisville & Nashville Railroad from Bacon Creek to Rolling Fork 
River, seriously interrupting Rosecrans's commimications, and 
capturing on this expedition more prisoners than he had soldiers 
in his command, had attracted more attention at that period than 
even the achievements of Stuart or Forrest. 

It was the author's good-fortxme as an independent attached to 
Quirk's Scouts of Morgan's cavalry to serve on this "Raid," and 
to be able to testify to the great confidence and deep affection in 
which General Duke, whom we then called "Morgan's right-hand 
man," was held by every soldier in that command. This affection 
was demonstrated in a marked degree when in the fight at Rolling 
Fork River, between a brigade of infantry and a battery of artillery 
under General John M. Harlan (now of the United States Supreme 
Court) and the rear -guard of Morgan's command, General Duke, 
who was immediately with our company, was struck down by a 
fragment of shell and fell, as we thought, dead. A swollen river 
was in our immediate front, and we were hard pressed, but rather 
than leave our general in the hands of the enemy, gallant Tom 
Quirk, himself suffering from two wounds, had the seemingly 

655 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

lifeless body of his chief placed across the saddle in front of him, 
and, holding his head above the water, swam his horse across the 
stream. Once in a place of safety, it was discovered that, though 
unconscious, he was not dead. Horses were impressed and a 
carriage was filled with mattresses, and in this extemporized am- 
bulance, through the cold and weary days and nights of that awful 
retreat from Kentucky, the wounded soldier was brought South 
and nursed back to life. After the death of General Morgan, at 
Greenville, Tennessee, in 1864, General Duke succeeded to the 
command of the Kentucky cavalry. 

Almost anything that is written about General N. B. Forrest 
will be interesting to a Southern reader, and some of my own recol- 
lections of him may prove so. I knew him very well, and the 
admiration which, in common with all who are familiar with his mil- 
itary career, I entertain for his extraordinary qualities and achieve- 
ments as a soldier is little more than the warm regard his personal 
character inspired. 

My acquaintance with General Forrest was much more intimate 
after than before the war. I did not meet him very often at that 
time, and to my great regret never had an opportunity of seeing 
him in battle. My first recollection of him is when he made a brief 
visit to Bowling Green while the army was encamped about that 
place. It was just after his name had become widely known on 
account of his victory at Sacramento. Shortly afterwards I saw 
him at Nashville, during the exciting scenes of General Albert 
Johnston's retreat and the evacuation of that city. He had just 
made his escape from Donelson, bringing off his regiment intact 
from that disaster. For two or three days he was busily employed 
in policing the city and the endeavor to restore order, a very dif- 
ficult task in the panic and wild turmoil prevailing. As Morgan's 
squadron was engaged in the same duty, I had a good chance to ob- 
serve how he performed, and I rather think that a number of those 
with whom he came in contact did not soon forget it. I well re- 
member how he looked, his strong, resolute face seeming to subdue 
all he gazed on to his will, and his tall, powerful form towering 
above the mob which, in its most furious moments, gave way 
before him. 

Some months later I was present at an interview between him 

656 



POSTSCRIPT 

and Morgan, when they were comparing notes of their respective 
expeditions made about the same date in the summer of 1862, 
the one into middle Tennessee and the other into Kentucky. Each 
seemed far more concerned to learn what the other had done and 
how he did it than to relate his own performances, and it was in- 
teresting to note the brevity with which they answered each other's 
questions and the eagerness with which they asked them. It was 
upon this occasion that Forrest used an expression which has been 
very often quoted. I was a good deal amused by it at the time, 
because of the terse way in which he rendered in the vernacular a 
proposition which General Beauregard had a few months previously 
clothed in very sonorous and academic terms. 

Some of my readers may perhaps remember the letter which 
Beauregard wrote to Bragg shortly after the former relinquished 
and the latter assumed command of the army at Tupelo. Along 
with other excellent counsel, General Beauregard advised his suc- 
cessor to "be careful always to move by interior lines and strike the 
fragments of your enemy's forces with the masses of your own." 
This maxim was certainly not less worthy of suggestion because 
Napoleon had previously commended it as comprising nearly all of 
the gospel of strategy. It was new, however, to the majority of the 
Confederate soldiers, and they read Beauregard's letter with pro- 
found admiration. I do not know, therefore, whether my surprise 
or amusement was the greater when I heard Forrest, in this con- 
versation with Morgan, unconsciously paraphrase it in his own 
curt and peculiar way. 

Morgan wanted particularly to know about his fight at Mur- 
freesboro, where Forrest had accomplished a marked success, capt- 
uring the garrison and stores and carrying oflf everything, although 
the surrounding country was filled with Federal forces. Morgan 
asked how it was done. 

"Oh," said Forrest, "I just took the short cut and got there first 
with the most men." 

I did not meet him at any time during the period of his later and 
most brilliant achievement, but, immediately after the close of the 
war, saw him quite frequently and became well acquainted with him. 
After a fashion, he took much interest in politics, which was, I 
believe, purely impersonal. He had no thought, so far as I could 
discover in my talks with him, of any advancement or benefit for 
Tt 657 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

himself. Of course, during the Reconstruction period, more es- 
pecially the early part of it, there was little chance of an ex-Con- 
federate obtaining office or political position; but I do not think 
Forrest at any time desired either the honors or emoluments of 
political office. His sole concern seemed to be to relieve his people 
from the terrible and oppressive conditions under which they so 
grievously suffered, and he went about that work with the same 
ardor and indifference to any personal hazard which characterized 
him in his military service. It was generally believed that he was 
the chief of "The Invisible Empire," that mysterious and dreaded 
association of the Ku-Klux created to counteract and hold in some 
sort of check the insolence of the Loyal League and other similar 
negro organizations and the unscrupulous greed of the carpet- 
baggers. Secret associations of this character do not exist without 
some real and strong reason. They are always to be deplored, but 
they never trouble commimities in which law is impartially ad- 
ministered and the rights of all citizens respected. 

No candid man who is familiar with the social and political con- 
ditions then obtaining in the Southern States will deny that the 
organization of the Ku-Klux was perfectly justified, or that the 
evils such abnormal conditions were producing could be met or 
remedied in any other way. While the suddenly emancipated 
blacks were permitted every privilege and even invested with a 
certain authority, the Southern whites — with the exception of that 
renegade class which was more vicious and virulent than the carpet- 
baggers themselves — were deprived of all rights, civil and political, 
and subjected, with no means or hope of legal protection, to every 
outrage and oppression the malice of their opponents could devise. 
Such a people would never tamely submit to either the injuries or 
insults so constantly offered them, and, in the absence of every 
other method of redress, naturally — indeed, inevitably — employed 
force. 

But, situated as they were, force could not be openly attempted, 
and, as has always been the case under similar conditions, resort 
was also had to stratagem and disguise. While it will not be 
denied that under the very provocation of the situation itself 
brutal violence and acts of cruelty were sometimes committed by 
the Southern whites against the blacks, and in some instances, 
perhaps, carried further than either retaliation or example warrant- 

6sS 



POSTSCRIPT 

ed, it has been always claimed, and 1 think justly, that such things 
were seldom, if ever, done by the Ku-Klux proper. In this respect 
their methods seem to have been as astute as they were effective. 
Thoroughly understanding the character of the negro, they con- 
trolled him by exciting a vague apprehension of violence rather 
than by its actual commission, and especially by playing upon his 
superstitions. The carpet-bagger became impotent when his negro 
allies were frightened into docility and good behavior. 

Whether Forrest was or was not at the head of "The Invisible 
Empire," it is certain that no man could have more ably and suc- 
cessfully conducted its operations. He had the skill to direct its 
deliberations and actions, although necessarily involved in the 
profoundest reticence and secrecy, and keep them strictly within 
the sphere of the prescribed purposes ; he had, as well, the energy and 
force of character which could compel obedience even in such an 
association, although invested with no actual and legitimate au- 
thority. 

Forrest was a delegate to the first Democratic Presidential con- 
vention which assembled after the war, that which nominated 
Seymour. I witnessed an incident on our way to New York which 
very well illustrated his capacity to intimidate men Hot supposed 
to be subject to such influences. A number of us, from Tennessee 
and Kentucky, were, of course, in the same coach. When the 
train reached some town, the name of which I have forgotten, it 
stopped before pulUng up at the depot at a water - tank a short 
distance below. 

The train conductor, who had been a Federal soldier, and was a 
very fine, manly young fellow with whom we had all fraternized 
readily, came to me at this point and said that he apprehended some 
trouble when we reached the depot. He had just been informed, 
he said, that a crowd, having learned that Forrest was on the train, 
had collected there, and that the town bully, a very truculent fellow, 
was loudly proclaiming his intention to take him off the train and 
thrash him. The conductor did not believe that the crowd was 
disposed to back the bully in such attempt, but thought it had 
assembled merely out of curiosity. But he was apprehensive that 
in the excitement some af them, who had formed no such previous 
intention, might render him assistance, and then, as we would 
certainly stand by Forrest, a serious riot might occiai. 

659 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

"Now," he said, "if anything of the kind happens, I'm going to 
side with you men and give you all the help I can. I don't like this 
sort of thing, and, moreover, it's my duty to protect my passengers 
so far as I can. But let's have no trouble if it can be avoided. I 
want you, therefore, to advise General Forrest to remain in the 
coach — where, if it comes to a fight, we can make the best showing, 
anyhow — and not go out on the platform, no matter what that fellow 
says or does." 

The conductor said further that he believed the man would seek 
a quarrel, inasmuch as he was a noted fighter and had never met 
his match. 

I immediately communicated the information to Forrest, and 
advised that he act as the conductor suggested. He received the 
news very calmly, being too much accustomed to affairs of that 
kind to become excited, and agreed to the programme as indicated. 
But when the train stopped at the depot, the bully immediately 
sprang upon the platform and entered our coach. He was a very 
powerful man in appearance, larger than Forrest, and I believe 
meant to execute his threat up to the time that he caught sight of 
the party he was looking for. As he entered the door he called out 
loudly: "Where's that d — d butcher, Forrest? I want him." 

I never in my life witnessed such an instantaneous and marvellous 
transformation in any one's appearance as then occurred with 
Forrest. He bounded from his seat, his form erect and dilated, 
his face the color of heated bronze, and his eyes flaming, blazing. 
He strode rapidly down the aisle towards the approaching cham- 
pion, his gait and manner evincing perfect, invincible determination. 

"I am Forrest," he said. "What do you want?" 

The bully gave one look. His purpose evaporated, and, when 
Forrest had gotten within three or four feet of him, turned and 
rushed out of the coach faster than he had entered. Forrest fol- 
lowed him into the midst of the crowd outside, vainly shouting to 
him to stop, and several of us followed Forrest. But the man whose 
prowess that crowd had gathered to witness had no thought of hold- 
ing his ground. He darted into and down the street with quarter- 
horse speed, losing his hat in his hurry, and vanished around a 
comer. Then the humor of the thing struck Forrest, and he burst 
into a great shout of laughter. In a few moments the entire crowd 
joined in his merriment and seemed to be in complete sympathy 

660 



POSTSCRIPT 

with him, many of them pressing forward to shake hands with him. 
When the train, five minutes later, pulled out, Forrest was standing 
on the platform receiving the cheers and plaudits of the multitude 
and gracefully waving his thanks to his new friends and admirers. 

Forrest attracted a great deal of attention at the Democratic 
convention of 1868, not only from the delegates, but from the large 
crowd assembled to witness its deliberations. Having had no 
practice as a speaker, and unfamiliar with parliamentary methods, 
he took little part, of course, in its more public proceedings; but his 
counsel, as one who knew the sentiment of the Southern people and 
perfectly possessed their confidence, was sought and heeded by the 
Democratic leaders. There was, also, a very lively curiosity enter- 
tained by people generally to see one whose career in the Civil War 
had been so remarkable and the remembrance of which was yet 
recent. 

As I have already said, he took much interest in politics at that 
time, and, so far as a man in his situation could do, tried to in- 
fluence the course of political events. His efforts were at first 
directed, necessarily, almost solely to the restoration of the auton- 
omy of his State, and, when that seemed impossible, believed that 
any means of opposing grievous immediate oppression were justi- 
fiable. His very active service in the latter part of the war had 
made his name familiar and peculiarly offensive to the Northern 
people, and when he became conspicuous in the Reconstruction era 
he received a double share of criticism from the orators and editors 
who were then especially engaged in censure or vituperation of 
everything Southern. 

In one such case the affair, which at first seemed to threaten 
tragic consequences, terminated almost in a comedy. Among those 
who reflected on Forrest most severely during the Presidential 
campaign of 1868 was the famous Federal cavalry officer General 
Kilpatrick. Kilpatrick, who had been very busy as a lecturer after 
his service in the army was concluded, took the stump for the 
Republican ticket during that canvass and made stump speeches 
in all of the Eastern States. In some of these speeches he charged 
Forrest with the commission of many atrocities, and among other 
things said that Forrest had on one occasion tied a number of 
negroes to a plank fence and had then set fire to the fence. This 
remarkable accusatio|i coujd hardly have been credited even by the. 

661 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

most prejudiced; for even had Forrest been a cruel man, which — 
although very fierce when his wrath was excited — was not his 
temper, he would certainly never have wasted the time necessary 
to burn "niggers" in so elaborate a fashion. It is probable that 
Forrest would have given no notice to this charge if it had not been 
especially brought to his attention in a way which he thought de- 
manded that he resent it. 

Another Federal general, a very gallant man, and one who grave- 
ly disapproved of such attacks upon his former opponents as 
Kilpatrick was making, not only remonstrated with the latter, but 
sent a copy of one of the speeches to Forrest, with a letter express- 
ing his disbelief in the story and his condemnation of its publica- 
tion. Forrest, upon receipt of this communication, felt obliged to 
call Kilpatrick to account, and he accordingly wrote him an open 
letter published in one of the Memphis papers. The letter was a 
long one, and in no degree less severe than the effusion which had 
provoked it. On the contrary, he explicitly set forth his opinion 
of General Kilpatrick's utterances and of that gentleman's general 
character and "style" in very vigorous English, and in terms which 
very nearly exhausted the retaliative possibilities of the language. 
This letter was, of course, very widely published, and I read it a day 
or two later in the Louisville Courier- Journal. I sympathized, of 
course, with Forrest, but was somewhat amused at the indignation he 
expressed, for I supposed that he had become so much accustomed 
to such attacks as to regard them with indifference. My admiration 
was also aroused by his eloquent and comprehensive treatment of 
the subject, and the forcible way in which he explained to Kilpatrick 
what he thought of him and of his conduct, and the many forms in 
which he impugned his veracity. The conclusion of the letter, 
however, struck me with consternation. Forrest wound up this 
communication by requesting (general Kilpatrick to consider it a 
challenge to combat; the peculiar conditions then prevailing might 
excuse, he thought, a more regular and formal transmission of suCh 
a cartel, but he expressed the hope that Kilpatrick would waive all 
that and immediately communicate with his (Forrest's) friend 
General Basil W. Duke, at Louisville, who would be authorized to 
make, on Forrest's part, all necessary arrangements for the meeting. 

I was flattered by Forrest's selection of me as his friend in this 
affair, and at one time would have acted with alacrity and even a 

663 



POSTSCRIPT 

certain degree of pleasure. But just then the thought of having 
to act as either second or principal in a duel was not at all agreeable. 
The laws of Kentucky against duelling were then, as now, extremely 
severe. The constitution provided that any citizen of Kentucky 
who participated in such an affair in any capacity within the borders 
of the State should be virtually disfranchised, and, in the case of 
lawyers, should be debarred from practising their profession until 
pardoned; and the Governor was inhibited the exercise of the 
pardoning power in such cases until the expiration of five years after 
the commission of the offence. The statutes passed to execute the 
constitutional provision were very drastic. 

I had come out of the war with a ready-made family and no 
visible means of support, and had begun the practice of law in 
Louisville. My prospects in that line were not brilliant, it is true, 
but were all that I had, and I was exceedingly loath to relinquish 
even a very small chance of making a living. The particular dif- 
ficulty I contemplated might have been obviated by having the 
duel fought somewhere else than in Kentucky ; but I was unwilling 
on Forrest's account that it should occur elsewhere. I feared that 
he would not get fair play anywhere north of the Ohio River. The 
entire South was still under military rule and occupied by Federal 
soldiers, and while I believed that the inclination of the soldiers — 
officers and men — would be in favor of a fair fight, I feared that 
those in authority would feel obliged to interfere and deal pretty 
harshly with all engaged in such an affair, which, on account of the 
prominence of the principals, would certainly excite interest and 
comment throughout the country. In Kentucky, however, both 
men would have friends and sympathizers, and the general senti- 
ment would be that they should fight "in peace," without partisan 
or impertinent interference. The law would not take cognizance 
of such a matter between gentlemen until it was over, and then to 
deal only with citizens of Kentucky in the way I have indicated. 
I made up my mind, therefore, that while General Kilpatrick was 
imdoubtedly entitled to designate the place of meeting, I would use 
every effort to have it come off in Kentucky. 

On the same day I received a letter from Forrest, in which he 
said that I would probably soon hear from Kilpatrick, and that he 
wished me to arrange a meeting as soon as possible. He went on 
to say that he recognized Kilpatrick's right to name "time, place, 

663 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

and weapons," and that he was prepared, of course, to accede to 
any terms the latter might designate; but, inasmuch as they had 
both been cavalrymen, he thought it would be highly appropriate 
to fight mounted and with sabres. 

I at once replied that any commimication from General Kil- 
patrick should receive immediate and proper attention. 

Although I was resolved to assist Forrest in every way I could in 
such an emergency, and to act in any way that he desired, I still 
hoped that, in some way, I might be relieved of direct participation 
in the duel, such participation as would subject me to the penalties 
of which I have spoken. I determined, therefore, to enlist some 
expert in such affairs whose services might be agreeable to Forrest, 
and who might act in my stead when the period of actual hostilities 
should arrive. It was necessary, of course, to select some one who 
was not a citizen of Kentucky, and who would be exempt from the 
consequences which I feared for myself. After due reflection, I 
concluded to ask the aid of Dr. James Keller, then living in St. 
Louis and a citizen of Missouri, who was an acknowledged authority 
on the duello and a warm friend of Forrest as well as of myself. 
I accordingly wired the doctor, stating the case, and asking his 
valuable assistance. It is difficult, of course, after the flight of so 
many years, to remember perfectly just how everything occurred, 
but I think that the doctor was in Louisville and ready for business 
before the instrument ceased clicking. 

In the mean time, mindful of the wish that Forrest had ex- 
pressed to fight on horseback, I was desirous of providing him with 
a suitable mount, and with that view called on Captain Bart Jenkins, 
formerly of the Fourth Kentucky Confederate Cavalry, who then 
kept a livery-stable in Louisville, and would, I was quite sure, have 
at his disposal a number of fine horses. Captain Jenkins was a 
thorough fighting-man as well as ardent Confederate, and I knew 
he would feel a profound interest in the matter in hand. When I 
reached the captain's place I was informed that he was very ill, 
but that I could see him. I was taken up-stairs to a small room 
above his office, where he was lying on a lounge looking like an 
exceedingly sick man. In response to my inquiry regarding his 
condition, he responded, in a voice scarcely louder than a whisper, 
that he had pneumonia, was so weak that he could not rise from 
his couch, and would not be surprised if the attack terminated 

664 



POSTSCRIPT 

fatally. After expressing due sorrow and sympathy, I said that I 
had called to talk with him about the affair between Forreet and 
Kilpatrick, but, tmder the circumstances, could, of course, preter- 
mit it." 

"No, you won't," he said, his voice perceptibly stronger; "I 
want to hear about that." 

"Oh, well, Forrest wants to fight on horseback with sabres — " 

"That's right," he interrupted, and rose to a sitting position — 
"that's right." 

"So I have come around here to consult you and see if I couldn't 
get him a good horse." 

"You just can," he declared, in a perfectly normal tone. "I've 
got the very animal you want," and with that he got out of bed and 
began to put on his clothes. 

"Don't do that, Bart," I said; "you've just told me that the 
doctor insists that you shall be very careful." 

"The doctor be d— d!" he replied. "Do you think I'll let a 
doctor interfere with important business of this kind. I want to 
show you my brown mare, the finest in the States, and has taken 
the blue ribbon at every fair in central Kentucky. She's sixteen 
hands high, built just right for a man of Forrest's weight, and as 
quick on her feet as a cat. Place the men sixty yards apart, and 
tell Forrest that when you give the word he must drive in the 
spurs and ride straight at the other horse. She'll knock him off of 
his feet, and Forrest can cut off Kilpatrick's head before he touches 
the ground. But — I must see the fight." 

Disregarding every remonstrance, he took me to the stable to 
inspect the mare, which was, indeed, a very fine one. 

But the duel was not fought. I received no communication from 
General Kilpatrick, which was entirely to my satisfaction, if not 
Forrest's. General Kilpatrick, after some delay, pubHshed a state- 
ment in the Eastern papers to the effect that he could not afford to 
accept Forrest's challenge, inasmuch as a committee of Congress, 
appointed to investigate the alleged massacre of negroes at Fort 
Pillow, had declared him guilty, and he (Kilpatrick) could not there- 
fore regard him as a gentleman. 

General vShackelford, the officer who first called Forrest's atten- 
tion to Kilpatrick's charges, published a letter in response to Kil- 
patrick's, in which he took the ground that while the report of a 

665 



LIFE OF GENERAL N. B. FORREST 

Congressional committee might be pertinent and valuable for 
many purposes, no one could consider it conclusive of a man's 
standing as a gentleman, and he strongly urged Kilpatrick to meet 
Forrest after having wantonly assailed him. I have always thought 
that, if Shackelford could by any possibility have been substituted 
for Kilpatrick, there would certainly have been a fight. 

I met Forrest very infrequently in the latter part of his life. 
The last time I saw him he was so broken by illness and had aged 
so greatly that I scarcely recognized him. I have heard that he 
became deeply religious shortly before his death, but retained to 
the last the keen sagacity and indomitable spirit which had ever 
characterized him. 



APPENDIX 



/ 

BATTLE AT FORT DONELSON, FEBRUARY, 1862 / 

confirmatory of the statement that General Grant did not com- 
;ly reoccupy his lines on the night of the 15th of February, the 
jwing extract from a letter of Captain Hermann Lieb, of Chicago, 
commanded a company in the Eighth Illinois Regiment of Ogles- 
*s brigade, is given. Speaking of the retreat of this brigade, he says : 
J" The wounded were abandoned and the regiment marched back into 
valley. About four or five in the afternoon a detail of 100 men was 
|ade and placed in my charge, with orders to proceed to the battle-field, 
Ve c*are of the wounded, and to bury the dead. It was dark when we 
xched the ground, but found the battle-field in the hands of the Con- 
derates, by whom we were informed that the wounded were being 
ken care of the best they could, but would not permit us to enter upon 
e field during the night. We consequently had to wait until morning, 
len, marching the detachment to the ground, we found it abandoned. 
. You are perfectly right in your statement that General Grant's 
rces did not completely reoccupy the line held before the attack upon 
e right wing during the night." 

It is due to Captain Lieb to add that he expresses in the letter his 
inion that, notwithstanding this condition of affairs, he doubts if the 
)nfederates could have succeeded in making their escape. 



STREIGHT'S RAID 

434. AN ACT H. 954. 

mating a section of land to Emma Johnson, widow, formerly Emma 

Sanson, in consideration of public services. 
Whereas, Emma Johnson, widow, formerly Emma Sanson, did by 
jsblic services, rendered our people in time of war, win the esteem ad- 

667 / 



APPENDIX 

miration, and gratitude of the State, and gain a place in history as the 
heroine of Alabama. 

Section i. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Alabama, That 
one section of the unappropriated public,lands of the State be, and the 
same is hereby granted, to said Emma Johnson, widow, formerly Emma 
Sanson, to be selected by her in subdivisions or otherwise, for which a 
patent or patents must be issued. 

Sec. 2. Be it further enacted. That the Governor of the State furnish 
Emma Johnson, widow, formerly Emma Sanson, an authenticated copy 
of this act, and do and perform all things necessary to carry into effect 
the provisions of said act. 

Robert P. M'David, 

Approved February loth, 1899. Secretary of State. 

(Official.) 



FINIS 



